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SLU Students Share Thoughts On Catholic Church & Pope

Story Published: Mar 12, 2013 at 5:47 PM EDT

Story Updated: Mar 12, 2013 at 6:24 PM EDT

As the world waits for the decision of the 115 cardinals who will elect the next pope, the debate continues over how that pope should lead the Catholic Church.

Out of the 580 U.S. Catholics surveyed in a New York Times - CBS poll, most felt the biggest problem facing the church was its handling of sexual abuse.

St. Lawrence University student Tom Donohue says the Catholic Church should not be judged based on the actions of some priests.

"The sex abuse scandal was horrible and what they did was absolutely horrendous, but it's not exclusive to the Catholic Church," he said.

The poll also showed that many American Catholics wanted the pope to have more modern views.

It's something Staphanie Kustos disagrees with.

"It's not a democracy so when we say that we want somebody more liberal, that's not right," she said.

According to the study, many U.S. Catholics wanted a pope who would allow priests to marry, let women become priests and support gay marriage.

But, the SLU students we spoke with say the church should maintain its tradition.

"Marriage is a bond between a man and a woman," said Anna Padovani, a freshman at SLU.

"Catholic priests should be men because it's always the tradition of our faith our culture," said SLU freshman Nam Tran.

The SLU students we spoke with said the church shouldn't budge on its teachings because it's following those teachings that make people Catholic.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
, Watertown, NY

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