By David Warren, The Catholic Thing - My sense is that we are passing through a difficult time in the Church (for agnosticism is always difficult), and that many Catholics, especially in the Western countries of traditional Christendom, are discouraged... I do not present this as a criticism of the pope, or of any of the “Princes of the Church,” for my sense is that they are as confused as we are, and given to miscalculation. If one is Catholic, he is obliged to pray for them; even to pray for their conversion.