What do non-Catholics think about the choosing of the pope?

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Catholics all over the world have their eyes on the Vatican. But what do people of other faiths think about the papal selection? Does the new pope matter to them?

Dan McGuire is a professor of moral theology at Marquette University. He says most people are intrigued by the theater of the papal selection. But he argues, the significance of the pope is not what it used to be -- especially in the United States.

"92% of Catholic women use birth control, even though the pope says they can't. So the pope is not the spiritual leader even of Catholics, and increasingly he has become a figurehead," said McGuire.

Rev. Suzelle Lynch is the senior minister at Brookfield's Unitarian Universalist Church. The church been ordaining women since 1863. Though Lynch says the papal selection won't have an impact on her church's faith, it could have a huge cultural impact on the treatment of women around the globe.

"When you have an institution as prevalent as the Catholic Church, that is creating an inequality between women and men, that inequality gets politically entrenched and promulgated across the world," said Lynch.

Both McGuire and Lynch agree that many Catholics have grown more progressive. Yet Pope Benedict XVI took the church in a more traditional direction -- and that has isolated a lot of Catholics, especially in the U.S.

Lynch says about 40% of her congregation are former Catholics. They, like many others, appreciate the tradition of what's going on. But many people would like to see the pope evolve on issues like women and priests getting married.

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