I was just thinking, suppose there was a way to be pope for a day or even better to control/direct the current pope, would it be possible to make a positive impact?
I would start by declaring certain things are to be reviewed, that some things are not as sure as I thought they were in the past. I would go on to state that anything supposedly said or revealed to me or my predecessors by god probably were just fantasy, all miracles probably were either natural phenomenons or again fantasy ( if it were real I could dress it up a little not saying fantasy but brain processes and explaining scientifically tested processes which can occur naturally by which people can have such experiences, but I wanna move along )
Anything said that was not supported by the scientific community or stacks of real evidences would have to regarded as just opinion of another normal human being.
Heaven and hell most likely do not exist. ( I wanna say do not exist but if the pope said that no one (except the atheists) would listen anymore so my stance would have to be softened a little)
Positions on or actions taken for god or actions by god or commands of god were in effect just the conclusions of this normal human based on the writings and conclusions of other human beings. In that respect I would also declare the bible as just another book, it should in no way be seen as a rulebook, it contains contradictory, inhuman and cruel passages and could not in anyway be written or inspired by god, it should also not be regarded as a history book, it is literary, old literary but nothing more.
Morals are an evolutionary byproduct not fully understood by science yet but understood enough to know that they do not come from a supernatural source, animals show moral behavior very similar to humans, moral change with society and should be evaluated from time to time, non religious morals are perfectly possible and are generally a lot better than dogmatic morals especially those that come from old books that were written in very different societies.
I would apologize for ALL the bad (inhuman things) done in my and my religion's name, including but not limited to pedophile priests, anti homosexual stance, anti birth control stance (condom and other birth control), anti abortion stance, any wrong decisions made during WWII, anti science stance, child indoctrination and I would start a process by which funds and resources would be directed towards causes that actively help those that are affected by those bad decisions.
I would applaud and encourage those that do good in the name of the catholic religion but remind them that it is them as humans that are doing the work and that they should remember that they are helping other humans not souls, those humans can be saved without the need to add religious baggage to that aid.
I would convert the vatican into a (free!) "museum of the catholic religion" where all the aspects are clearly exposed.
I would declare all churches as free venues for lectures or as refuge for the downtrodden, catholic schools would have to scrap catholic education and instead teach religious education where all religions and secular ways of life are discussed, this would not be a class with exams but a compulsory class where open discussion would be welcome and encouraged.
At that point the Swiss guard probably kicks in the doors to the office and cuts the transmission after which I am not seen again only as a CGI animation where I denounce everything and appoint the next pope.
Obviously it would not completely remove catholicism, a large part of them are so far into it that nothing could change their mind, but a lot of people would see that a different non religious or at least non dogmatic path is possible where they did not see it before and certain things could not be removed, I think such a move by the pope would make the world a little better, a little more tolerant.
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