Macro/Micro and the Church: I have to take issue with you, Razor. You're unlikely to find many people (at least in the non-victim category) who hold the church in as much contempt as I for their sins of commission and omission. That's all fine. I don't think, though, that it gives Catholics some sort of fundamental carte blanche to wander off the moral reservation. In other words, the Pope has spoken, in all his authority, on abortion. You either buy what he says or you don't. If he spoke ex cathedra in a contradictory way -- for example, using his authority to condone molestation -- you might have a valid point. Until then, using the excuse that priests and bishops are sinful, human, and fallible is to commit an ad hominem fallacy. The tenets of Catholic belief are not predicated on the sterling character of its employees.

The church is hypocritical, true. Might as well add disgustingly wealthy for an organization founded on a biblical injunction to embrace poverty; horribly politicized, particularly on the local level; and totally out of step with the modern world, not because of Biblical demand, but because the rules that govern it reflect the medieval worldview in which they were codified.

Still, as I said, Il Papa has ruled on abortion. Either you agree with him or you don't. And if you don't, why on earth call yourself a Catholic when you are literally practicing the very essence of protestantism -- protesting the authority of the papacy.