How many times have we heard it said that if the Catholic Church ever gets a "progressive pope," then abortion, contraception et cetera will somehow no longer be defined as sins! Well, Pope Benedict XVI answered that question once and for all this past Saturday when, during his homily he pointed out, "The pope is not an absolute sovereign whose thoughts and will are law. Quite the contrary, the ministry of the pope is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to His Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but constantly bind himself and the Church in obedience to God's Word in the face of all attempts to adapt that Word or to water it down, and in the face of all forms of opportunism."
This is perhaps why a fan of Pope Benedict XVI has created T-shirts that simply state, "The cafeteria is closed." Abortion is evil; contraception is evil; euthanasia is evil – and such evils will never be condoned by the Catholic church.