"Christian conservatives — who had been dismayed that the pope, in his emphasis on the poor, barely mentioned issues like abortion and homosexuality…"

Get some perspective, Your Holiness! The poor will always be with us, and their suffering is a blessing upon them. However, we have a real shot at stamping out the legal sanction of unorthodox ways of making whoopie. Also medical science (without using stem cells) is very close to guaranteeing that every heterosexual encounter, right down to sitting on a recently vacated and still warm seat, results in a viable pregnancy.