When he’s the leader of a dangerous cult
I have often wondered why membership in the Catholic church isn’t down to zero by now—and I’ve voiced this curiosity quite a few times in my articles here. The Catholic church to date has paid out 3 to 4 BILLION dollars in legal fees because of child abuse/rape by its clergy. Why haven’t Catholics abandoned the church en masse? When Pope Francis was elected in 2013, and was welcomed as a breath of fresh air, the best thing he could have done was hold a weekly press conference to explain all the measures he had taken to get rid of pedophile priests—how many had been expelled from their positions and turned over to the police; what improved screening processes had been initiated to prevent such men from being ordained; what ongoing counseling programs had been established to help priests behave—including high ranking clergy who have transferred offending priests to other parishes. Of course, sexual abuse has come to light in many other Christian brands, but this hideous scandal qualifies the Catholic church as a dangerous cult.
So why isn’t its membership down to zero? Because it promotes magical thinking—that is, it offers gimmicks, formulas for achieving eternal life. Thus membership is not down to zero, even though membership may have declined. What do I mean by magical thinking in the Catholic context? John 6:53-58 has to rank as one of the most grotesque texts in the New Testament. In this Jesus-script he claims that eating his flesh and drinking his blood is crucial for achieving eternal life. Hence we’re hardly surprised that this blatant superstition was made into a sacrament by the Catholic church, that is, the Eucharist, mass and transubstantiation: During the mass, the wafer and wine turn into the real body and blood of Jesus. This idea is based on John 6:53-58, but even so, it means that Catholic theology here embraces magical thinking. The supposed body and blood of Jesus function as magic potions. Elaborate rituals, costumes, and sets—truly magnificent show business displays—work to divert attention from what is actually offensive superstition. How does it benefit the world that many millions of people believe in the power of magic potions? It’s hard to grab hold of reality—the hard facts about our lives and the cosmos—when such silliness has been installed in so many minds. This also qualifies the Catholic church as a dangerous cult.
In May of 2015, Pope Francis issued a 73-page document on the dangers that our planet faces because of human greed and excess; he makes a good case that we have abused our environment. He affirmed the reality of climate change. But we find the following statement in this document:
“Instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking of how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate. At times, developing countries face forms of international pressure which make economic assistance contingent on certain policies of ‘reproductive health’. Yet ‘while it is true that an unequal distribution of the population and of available resources creates obstacles to development and a sustainable use of the environment, it must nonetheless be recognized that demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development’ [quoting from a statement issued by Pope John Paul II]. To blame population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues.”
Refusing to face the issues. How true! It’s simply a fact that so many scientists who are deeply worried about global warming and our deteriorating environment know very well that population growth is a major contributor to global disaster. But the church cannot abandon its theology, hence it still opposes contraception, birth control, and abortion—and preaches this message world-wide, causing so much suffering.
Hemant Mehta, in a recent article titled, Don’t let nostalgia rewrite the real legacy of Pope Francis, (23 April 2025, The Friendly Atheist) stated the blunt truth:
“Pope Francis didn’t understand the realities of abortion either. The Catholic Church continues to oppose it despite the harm such draconian policies inflict on women around the world. When the pope called the procedure an ‘extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense,’ he simultaneously condemned ‘violence against women,’ not realizing that forcing a woman to give birth against her will is indeed a form of violence against her. In 2019, he said having an abortion was like hiring a hitman.”
Such denial, such blindness is inexcusable. This also qualifies the Catholic church as a dangerous cult.
Which brings us to the issue of misogyny. There are very devout Catholic women whose deeply held religious beliefs—based on their prayers and feelings of connection to their god—know for sure that they are called to be priests. But the hierarchy, totally under male control, won’t hear of it. In other words, their certainties on this are wrong: male Catholic theologians telling women Catholic theologians that their understanding of god is flawed; their signals from god are an illusion. It is no surprise that Catholic theologians look down on the thought of Protestant theologians, but here they are slandering other Catholic theologians! Pope Francis affirmed this hard line in a 2022 statement that women will never be ordained priests. The old men at the Vatican know god better than anyone else. This also qualifies the Catholic church as a dangerous cult.
Pope John Paul II brought his virulent homophobia to the Vatican from Poland, and Benedict XVI brought his to the Vatican from Germany. When Pope Francis was questioned about his take on gay people, he famously answered, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge him?” But that did little to change church policy, which is based on the certainty that homosexuality is a disorder. The supreme irony, of course, is that a high percentage of the Vatican population is gay. This reality is abundantly documented in Frédéric Martel’s 2019 book, In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy (555 pages, published in eight languages simultaneously). It is based on four years of research, including almost 1,200 interviews with people at the Vatican. I wonder what percentage of devout Catholics know about this book, and have read it. One percent, two percent?
At the outset, Martel states, “The Vatican has one of the biggest gay communities in the world, and I doubt whether, even in San Francisco’s Castro, the emblematic gay quarter, though more mixed today, there are quite as many gays!” (p. xi)
Near the end of the book, Martel mentions one priest that impressed him especially:
“His simplicity, his faith, his generosity, the love of his life all touched me. When he tells me about the men he has loved—and not only desired—I don’t feel at any point that his faith is diminished. On the contrary, I find him loyal to his commitments and, at any rate, more sincere than many Roman monsignori and cardinals who preach chastity by day and cavort with rent boys at night.” (p. 540)
Yes, the subtitle of the book scores a direct hit: power, homosexuality, hypocrisy. The Catholic church engages in outrageous denial about such basic reality at it’s very center, and maintains a hard line against gay people. This also qualifies it as a dangerous cult.
Hemant Mehta sums up the reason why Pope Francis cannot be credited with a great legacy:
“The best thing you can say regarding the Church’s policies is that Pope Francis wasn’t as awful as he could have been. The Catholic Church, as an institution, is nearly impossible to change. With centuries of dogma having piled up and hardened, it’s never going to dramatically pivot on its traditions or positions. So any push to make it slightly less awful deserves some praise. But just some. Because on so many hot-button issues, Pope Francis only solidified the worst beliefs of Catholicism.”
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
· Guessing About God (2023),
· Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available.
· Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.
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