The last time I saw the Pope was here in Caracas in 1997 if I'm not mistaken. It was Pope John Paul II, He was riding in his Popemobile (how cool is that name?), waving at the multitude who was outside just to take a look at the head of the catholic church. For a 95% catholic country this visit was really important for the very religious people, but from a political point of view, it was a strategy from the then president Rafael Caldera to take the people's eyes off his corrupt deals and mismanagement charges. The Pope gave a few masses and speeches calling for peace and respect of life etc. and was gone. His function served the president more than the catholic church, which has been dwindling down for years.
I saw the Pope again on TV. He's in The US. but the Catholic church is not very large there, not the majority. So why is he there? To give a message of peace? Can he influence the government on changing it's policies? Is the Pope a "World's leader favorite puppet"? I'm not an American but I would really like to know the opinion of the Americans here...
There are more than twice as many Catholics in the USA (61 million) as there are people in Venezuela (28 million).
At 61 million Catholics, that puts the USA easily among the top five largest Catholic communities in the world.
The Pope's visit may not be big front page news, but you can be sure that he's a 'respected' figure that politicians will always be careful while ignoring him.
