"Obedience to the truth,..."

“Habemus Papam.” Twenty Months Later, a Portrait
Benedict XVI doesn’t seek applause, he doesn’t harangue the crowds, but he’s still extremely popular. He himself has explained his secret: it is “obedience to the truth, not to the dictatorship of popular opinion”
by Sandro Magister

A good article...A number of statements jump out from the page:

As pope, Benedict XVI doesn’t give an inch to the preconceptions that were formed about him as a cardinal. He doesn’t thunder condemnations, he doesn’t hurl anathemas. He reasons staunchly, but serenely. His criticisms against modernity or against the “pathologies” that he sees even within the Church are fully elaborated. That is part of the reason why he has practically silenced Catholic progressivism: not because this has turned friendly toward him, but because it is not able to reply to him with arguments of similar persuasive power.

Upon reading this paragraph (and others), I thought of Joe and others similarly frustrated by their own misguided beliefs and actions which are often times opposed to the Church.

I must confess that I feel a certain sadness for those who find it necessary to constantly fight against Holy Mother Church and the Truths of our Faith as handed on to us from Christ and his Apostles, and their successors.

We are tremendously blessed that our Lord has given us such leadership in His Church at this time in history. We have an extraordinary Pope and some of us have extraordinary bishops and priests. Let us not forget to thank God daily for all that He has given us and to ask Him for more faithful bishops and priests.