Almost 500,000 signatures have been collected on a petition asking Pope Francis to reiterate Church teaching at the Synod of the Family. Which Church teaching? That the divorced, remarried, and those who actively engage in homosexual activity are to not receive Our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist.

Let that sink in for a minute. Half a million Catholics felt the urgency to sign a petition asking the Pope to teach Catholic doctrine. The Church estimates there are 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, even though it is likely that only 10% actually practice their faith. Yet we are led to believe by those in the Catholic media that everything is going fine. There is no crisis of the faith they tell us. Pope Francis is being mistranslated and used by the secular media, they say. He will reign in the Synod and proclaim Catholic teaching.

If that is so, then why do 500,000 Catholics feel the need to ask the Pope to do his job? The Church is amidst a crisis of faith unseen since the days of St. Athanasius, and we are to believe that everything is fine and that the Church is strong.

Remember the days when the only people petitioning the Pope were the ones asking him to change Church teaching? These days Catholics have to petition the Pope to uphold Church teaching.

The Church is not healthy. The Church is not well.