JPI is officially said to have died of heart attack, but this is somewhat dubious (I must have confused him with another Pope, I can't recall which one).
Citation, right the **** now.
John Paul I was found dead sitting up in his bed shortly before dawn on 29 September 1978, just 33 days into his papacy. The Vatican reported that the near-66-year-old Pope most likely died the previous night of a heart attack. It has been claimed that the Vatican altered some of the details of the discovery of the death to avoid possible unseemliness in that he was discovered by Sister Vincenza, a nun.
An autopsy was not performed, as is customary. This, along with inconsistent statements made following the Pope's death, led to a number of conspiracy theories concerning it. These statements relate to who found the Pope's body, the time when he was found, and what papers were in his hand.
Too lazy to look up a more reliable source, but it's right there. As I said, I might have confused him with another Pope who died for being too progressive.
Benedict has not changed the Church's stance on sexuality a bit, so it would be difficult to sustain a charge that this progress has been hindered. (Indeed the real hindrance was done before Vatican II when Pius XII, or his predecessor I'm not entirely sure, went rogue and declared contraceptives immoral in contravention of what had been expected.)
When I was talking about influence of different Popes on the Church, I wasn't talking specifically about views on sexuality (and even mentioned this didn't changed and didn't even had a chance to), but about general progressive tendencies in Catholic Church. I agree about Pius XII and his ban on contraceptives being a setback, but allowing contraceptives wouldn't necessarily change how the Church views sex.
For that matter there are large, very large, portions of Europe that are wholly or partially Protestant. Are the Swiss noticeably more prudish from the influence of John Calvin? Baptist practice was born in Amsterdam, but it doesn't seem to have done much to affect their morals in the modern age. It's simple to blame the churches but these are things so remote in time and indirect or ineffective in practice as to make the assertion laughable.
Most are partially protestant. UK is a major exception, but there are few other countries like that. Switzerland is also a separate issue, due to Calvin's influence (Calvinism wasn't very progressive compared to other protestant religions).
Perhaps I should have said that
all major churches should update their approach to sexuality, or at least most of them. The "sex is evil" approach is older than all schisms Christian church went through. Far eastern religions, of course, don't count (they're a completely separate matter and I don't really know much about them, so I won't be including them in any statement about western religions).
THIS TOPIC WAS SPLIT SO THE DISCUSSION ON RELIGION WOULD NOT CONTINUE.
This topic was split so such post wouldn't continue. Calm down. Ironic fact: if you look at the posts that's been split off, a lot of them sound a lot like yours (only quieter
).
