In all of this mainstream papal coverage I have noticed three things.

1. The Pope can never do enough to please Americans. Americans as a whole think the world revolves around us. To the Pope we are one nation, with one set of problems. He cannot drop everything when genocide, AIDS and other problems combat a very real world outside of the US. Either he never does enough or he has his hands in things too much.

2. I should collect all of the articles with the statement "what the Vatican can learn from us" ... A bunch of people with limited experience in solving their own problems is going to tell the leader of a 2000 year old religion that is still around despite the botching of its own leadership at every step of the way how to go about stepping into the "real world". Be more liberal. Be more conservative. Be more democratic. Be this. Be that. Yeah, the timeless teachings of an increasingly wise Church will take deference to the whims of people who think their thoughts haven't been tried and found wanting in the past.

Catholics generally regard the survival and success of such a flawed institution as evidence of divine favor. The church has managed to outlive all of its scandals -- and all of its critics. (source)

or

The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age. --GK Chesterton

3. The Pope is painted an arch-conservative bad guy when he speaks about abortion, stem cell research. He is an enlightened liberal that can teach Bush a thing or two when he speaks about peace, the Iraq war and environmentalism.

But for many, this most peculiar papacy still sets Catholics apart. The Pope, of all things, would seem to stand outside our common values as Americans. The Pope is what we’re not: regal, authoritative, indifferent to polling data, able to ask that we follow without giving us a vote on the issue.

Yes, he is all that. But we live in a time hungry for unity, hungry for clarity of purpose, hungry for the presence of God—the real presence of the divine. Americans are a people on pilgrimage, always searching, always willing to reinvent ourselves as we try to find out who we might become.

So maybe just for a few days, we might all pause before this man of God: human he is, on pilgrimage like the rest of us. Sure, I wish he’d make pulpits open to women, I wish he’d eliminate “only” from his love of the church he leads, I wish he’d spend more time with the poor and less with the rich. Full Circle: see point #2 I was making above

But he made me proud nonetheless. He brought a profound reminder of what it means to believe in a faith so grand and so humble too, a faith ultimately in nothing less than God’s love, God’s presence among us, God’s promise to be with us always.

Thank you, Holy Father. Amen. (source)

In the more Catholic coverage much ado has been made about the music at the mass in Washington. I have heard nothing but priases about the mass from people who were there despite their displeasure with the selections of music. I think it is important for us to realize that we have a long way to go when it comes to making liturgy better for the future. For the priests that were there, they got to concelbrate mass with the Pope. For the laity in attendance it will likely be a memorable experience they will never forget. Second, liberal Catholics are all up in arms that deacons and priests were in roles often performed by the laity at your average parish mass (altar servers, distribution of communion). Yeah, lets not encourage our seminarians who are making a huge sacrifice to pursue their vocation. Further ado was made of Kerry receiving communion. He likely received from a deacon without authority to do much about it. He also likely didn't know until Kerry was standing two inches from him who he was if he even knew at all. I am prone to give somebody here the benefit of the doubt. As for Kerry, Scripture has choice words for his situation:

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment; -- 1 Cor 11:27-31

I am not sure I want him receiving for his own sake much less for the scandal to Our Lord and His Church.

The Pope should come to America more often. It is truly an exercise in humility for all of us. After all he is a shepherd and he is here to teach us. I think rather than pontificate ourselves it might be time to listen.