Catholic Church in Steep Decline in Poland

The 12th Century minded Pope Benedict XVI has said that one of the goals of his papacy was/is to revive Christianity - Catholicism in particular - in Europe. Increasingly, however, it seems that instead he is overseeing the Church's wake on that continent instead. And deservedly so in light of the Church's worldwide sex abuse scandal and the ever increasing evidence that secrecy, cover ups, and an utter disregard for the welfare of children and youths was and remains the norm for the Church hierarchy. Yes, there are crocodile tears shed when the truth of the abuse comes out in the news media, but most responsible in the hierarchy have gone totally unpunished. Added to this phenomenon is the Church's refusal to accept modern medical, scientific and mental health knowledge - a refusal that is all the more evident given the free flow of information via the Internet. Catholic Spain - once reliable from the Vatican perspective - now has gay marriage and abortion. And now, according to a New York Times story, the Church finds itself in free fall in Poland, yet another once reliable bastion of Catholicism. To my view, the Church leadership has brought most of this on itself and it looks increasingly that those who claim to want to "save the Church" are the ones killing it. The irony is just too delicious. Here are some highlights from the Times story:
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Poland is still an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation, still conservative and still religious, especially when compared with its European neighbors. But supporters and critics of the Roman Catholic Church all acknowledge that the society is changing. They agree that church representatives in Poland have lost authority and credibility, and that much of the population is moving toward a more secular view of life, one with a greater separation between church and state, and a rejection of church mandates on individual morality.
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Poles cite a wide variety of reasons for the church’s declining influence. They say the dynamic gained momentum after the death in 2005 of the hugely popular Pope John Paul II, whose leadership is credited with helping bring down the Iron Curtain.
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Church critics and supporters said that the trend was partly an expression of disgust with the clergy for taking sides in recent political battles, and partly the influence of thousands of Poles who had returned home after working and studying in the more secular societies in the West.
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But they also said there was a strong anticlerical movement in Poland, one that was unique to this nation and not tied to the sex scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church elsewhere. It is more closely linked to an almost genetic predisposition to rebel against authority, many people here said, as much as the church’s often heavy-handed intervention in national politics and debates over social issues, particularly in vitro fertilization.
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The list of grievances against the church tends to be Polish specific: that it managed to recover its property after Communism, but that average people often could not; that it appeared to take sides in politics . . .
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Antichurch sentiment has run so hot that one of the most popular politicians in the country, Janusz Palikot, started a political party based largely on an anticlerical platform. He said that the national divide tended to be generational, with older citizens more closely aligned with the church, but that it was impossible to discern distinct boundaries.

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The Church truly seems headed towards a day where its sole center of influence will be limited to backward countries with uneducated populations, primarily in Africa. And Rome will have accelerated the trend by insanely clinging to 12th century dogma and "natural law" arguments now refuted by modern knowledge.