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What has he done besides wave his stick at you at a youth rally? I notice that those who defend him do so without offering evidence. This is because the evidence is to the contrary--that he has been incompetent, a lax disciplinarian and poor judge of character. He has been indifferent to liturgical abuses, for instance, for twenty-five years--despite continuous complaints on the part of the faithful about openly apostate bishops and priests. Only now has he come out belatedly against a few of these in an encyclical. He has a poor record as far as elevating prelates in general--his selections have been uniformly mediocre and even scandalous. He has elevated men of very doubtful orthodoxy even to the cardinalate. He has likewise tolerated corruption and dissent in the seminaries for decades and in the dioceses themselves--and has done absolutely nothing to push for reform of either. If he had a plan or vision to do so, nobody has ever heard of it. His reactions to the sex abuse scandals that have plagued the Church under his pontificate has not only been inadequate, it has been shocking. In effect, he has shrugged and moved on, showing a monumental indifference to the victims of such abuses. In short, I don't see much evidence that this pope cares very much for the ordinary Catholic. He is a showman, a celebrity, he likes schmoozing with crowds--but that does not a successful pontificate make.

What has he done besides wave his stick at you at a youth rally?

Hee, hee. You might find it completely incredible, but sometimes, all it takes is waving a stick. The criteria demanded by the apostle Thomas was not necessary to the other apostles. I know the pope has not measured up to your personal expectations, but I'd venture to guess that most Catholics don't share your severe judgementalism. In fact, rare is the Catholic that shares your encyclopedic knowlege of church history and theology. My guess is that most Catholics want to serve God through His Church via the sacraments and don't feel the need to critique the pope's every action or phantom inaction. For a Catholic the "stick" speaks for itself.

If you sincerely feel that there is a void concerning the treatment of sexual abuse victims, I humbly suggest that you take up the cause.