Here’s my problem. A short survey of the recent papal news coverage could cause one to induce vomiting! Many are talking of Benedict XVI as a conservative Catholic. They say a lot of American Catholics will be unhappy that he will remain unbending in matters important to them. Some media are reporting that these more liberal Catholics want to be able to use condoms, have women clergy, affirm homosexuality, and just lower all those cumbersome moral standards.

I will give these uninitiated “journalists” the benefit of the doubt. All they know is politics. And it seems in the last years they have gotten it in their minds that “conservative” is synonymous with religious, particularly evangelical and Catholic. They also seem to equate “liberal” with modern and up-to-date (in their minds, “common sense”) thinking.

So, here they go reporting on the pontiff and the Catholic Church. They are accusing the pope of being “conservative” in the face of an overwhelming “liberal” church. They are mistaking this for some sort of political game.

In actuality, the pope is not being conservative. He is not even being “traditional,” though that is a better term. The pope is being orthodox. That is, he is adhering to the truth. The truth is what it is. It is fixed and unmaleable.

The “liberals,” whose view would be seen as liberal in political terms, are really advocating religiously unorthodox ideas. In other words, they are putting in their vote for an un-Christian Christianity. They are ultimately saying that they prefer not to be Catholic. Or at least they want all the appearances and warm fuzzies with none of the commitment to Christ and His teaching.

Yes, the so-called “liberals” are really advocates of dangerously “unorthodox” philosophies and irreverent attitudes. I would shy away from calling them heretics, but they are on that road.