Pope John Paul II

Re “Pope Moves to Quell Dissent Over Ban on Female Priests,” July 1: Belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ and the presence of Christ in the Eucharist are core dogmas and must be believed by Catholics. The ban on female priests is not core dogma but a man-made law and therefore subject to possible change. The majority of Catholics favor having women as ordained priests, but John Paul II in his stubbornness will not acknowledge them. The apostle Paul tells us there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, slave or free, male or female.

The belief that a priest must image the male Christ is weak and ineffectual. Maleness is unimportant and incidental to the priesthood and to the essence of Christ’s teachings.

DON RADEMACHER

Glendale

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As a loyal and practicing Catholic, I must applaud our current pope’s open-mindedness. Though he abhorred communism and its iron-fist control of his native country, he clearly does respect one of the methods employed by his former adversary:

If the most important aim is to force conformity to one’s own objective(s), one must first declare dissension a punishable behavior.

MARY BLACK

Canoga Park

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It is time for President Clinton to visit St. Peter’s Square and let his holiness know, in a televised press conference, about freedom of thought and discussion as we in the United States understand it.

JOHN MAYS

Malibu