Most Catholics these days disagree on various issues with the Vatican - and I'm sure it was ever thus in the past century.
For example, many Catholics believe that, in the face of an AIDS epidemic that costs millions of lives, the Vatican's refusal to lift its ban on condoms is stubborn and wrong. A new multinational poll shows that Catholics the world over believe that using condoms is pro-life because it prevents the spread of HIV and AIDS.
According to the poll, which interviewed Catholics living in Ghana, Ireland, Mexico, the Philippines and the United States, the support for condom use is overwhelming. When asked if “using condoms is pro-life because it helps save lives by preventing the spread of AIDS,” 90% of Catholics in Mexico, 86% in Ireland, 79% in the US, 77% in the Philippines and 59% in Ghana agreed.
When questioned about the church’s responsibility to help prevent the spread of AIDS in a health care context, 87% of Irish Catholics; 86% of Mexican Catholics; 73% of US Catholics; 65% of Philippino Catholics and 60% of Ghanaian Catholics believe that “Catholic hospitals and clinics that the government funds should be required to include condoms as parts of AIDS prevention.”
Frankly, I think it's all healthy - to have disagreement and debate within a church. After all, in the absence of an inquisition - what can you expect? Of course there will be people with different views in such a massive communion...
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