We must live with disappointments.

I had hoped for too much. Now I live with a disappointment.

In the final analysis, my disappointment may work out for the betterment of society, but that is a little difficult to believe. By the white smoke we learned that a new pope had been selected. Pope Benedict XVI, by all accounts is conservative, if not ultra-conservative.

My disappointment is simply that I believed that the day for women to become priests and priests to marry was at hand. Was that too much to ask for?

I must say that I was pleased that the new pope was not Italian. We have seen too many of those! Now we have had two non-Italians popes yet, European. It was time for a major change. But, that was not to be. Maybe next time we will see a Latino pope; one who might come from Latin America where half of all Catholis live.

Popes have too much power, their power is absolute. There are many Catholics in North America and Europe who would like the Church to change. Their hopes have been dashed. Perhaps the next pope will be more liberal and maybe, just maybe he will hear the voice of God saying: “It is time for the Church to become more moderate in its relationship with all members.”

Some day in the future Catholics will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about.

I have absorbed my disappointment and frustration for I recognize that times do change, and popes do come and go. The Church of Rome will change its attitudes and become more humanistic in its existence!