Dear Editor:

Claire Castagnera's Saturday column about the new Pope is another instance of people ridiculing what they don't like or want to hear. The moral precepts the Catholic Church espouses transcend time. They are not held to what is popular or the current fad.Claire wants to see someone at the head of the Catholic Church who agrees that it is OK to end the life of an unborn child simply because that child is an inconvenience. This shows a lack of understanding that this same type of populist thinking can and has led to a world where it is OK to end the life of someone already born who is an inconvenience to society - be it through physical or mental handicap or through an interpretation that a particular religious sect is a blight on mankind - just as the Nazis did in Germany.Thankfully we still live in a world where fundamental moral principles are propagated through religious teaching.Otherwise Claire may find out only too late that she is an inconvenience to others wanting to achieve some popular objective and end up as a discarded life in the way of progress.By the way, the Pope's views aren't "medieval", they are "ancient". That's when the stone tablets with the TEN COMMANDMENTS were handed down.If everyone adhered to those rules the world would be a better place - now and forever.Sincerely,Stan and Barbara Swierczekswierczek@windstream.net