The liberal media target the Catholic Church because it’s one of the few global institutions they hadn’t completely bent to their worldview. That’s why, during their vapid coverage of the start of the Conclave that would pick a new pope, CBS Mornings produced an entire segment dedicated to calling for a pope more “progressive” than Pope Francis. They went so far to call for priests to be allowed to act on lustful temptations.
CBS Mornings co-anchor Tony Dokoupil couched the push to liberalize the Catholic Church in what would amount to a Faustian bargain to retain and attract new worshipers. “[O]n any given Sunday, back in America, the number of Catholics on their way to mass has been dwindling,” he noted. “Weekly or nearly weekly attendance is down 12 percent since 2000, according to Gallup.”
As an example of a person the church was missing out on, Dokoupil spoke with American flight attendant Kathy Freeman, who claimed to the a Catholic but said she refused to raise her kids in the faith because the church didn’t allow women to be priests:
FREEMAN: I don’t know, I see it more political than divine intervention to be honest with you.
DOKOUPIL: How political? What do you mean?
FREEMAN: Just like politics in the United States. It's another government up there.
DOKOUPIL: Like more than 40 percent of American Catholics surveyed in a new CBS News poll, she's hoping the successor to Francis continues his teachings. But she's so unsatisfied with aspects of the current church, she raised her own children outside of it.
FREEMAN: I would love as a Catholic to see female intervention in all parts of the service.
DOKOUPIL: Really?
FREEMAN: Oh, yeah.
DOKOUPIL: You want to see female priests?
FREEMAN: Yes.
Freeman didn’t seem to have a grasp of the faith since she said the Conclave was not directed by the Holy Spirit, a core belief of the church.
To back up Freeman, co-anchor Norah O’Donnell recounted a disappointing interaction she had with Pope Francis where he declined to have women join the clergy. “It's a question that I asked Pope Francis in my interview, could a little Catholic girl grow up and think maybe she could be a deacon someday or member of the clergy. He said ‘no,’” she lamented
But O’Donnell did have hope for upended the Catholic Church, including a CBS News poll:
However, the Synod is studying the idea of women as deacons. And when I too was down there at St. Peter's Basilica, Sister Rose from the Sisters of St. Paul, came up and said, ‘yes, we need to push for more women should be part of the clergy.’
And so – people do, as you saw in our CBS News polling, they want someone – 40 percent want someone like pope Francis, another 20 percent want someone more progressive than him.
Dokoupil’s idea for adding “more talent in the clergy” was “opening it up to women” “or maybe changing the celibacy laws.”
That desire to change the celibacy laws betrayed a profound ignorance of the Catholic belief of Jesus Christ and the connection to the priests of his faith. It also exposed a type of hypocrisy where they praised Francis’s simple way of life, essentially praising him sheading the deadly sins of greed and pride, but they wanted priests to live in lust.
To Dokoupil’s credit, he did speak with a group of young men who were adamant that the Catholic Church didn’t need to change in order to “accommodate certain modern beliefs” as the CBS anchor put it:
DOKOUPIL: Does the church need to accommodate certain modern beliefs and ways of life to fit them within the history of the church?
ALEX HAROLD: No. No. The church does not need to fit the age. That's why it's 2,000 years old.
The transcript is below. Click "expand' to read:
ABC’s The View
May 7, 2025
7:30:16 a.m. EasternTONY DOKOUPIL: Welcome back to our live coverage of the Conclave. We're in Rome overlooking Vatican City. A live shot there of St. Peter's Square. And this morning's Conclave mass, we have pictures of that, as well.
If history is any guide, more than 100,000 people will soon fill that square you just saw on your screen, the one right behind me. But the reality is on any given Sunday back in America, the number of Catholics on their way to mass has been dwindling. Weekly or nearly weekly attendance is down 12 percent since 2000, according to Gallup. Something many people we spoke to here in Rome are very keenly aware of.
[Cuts to video]
Even in the glow of a truly global church, you can't help running into an American or two.
Were you going to be here anyway, or is this a happy surprise?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN 1: Happy surprise.
DOKOUPIL: Many who had already planned to take in the history here now find themselves with the lucky chance to see it being made.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN 2: You know, it's a -- probably once in a lifetime opportunity to be in Rome when they're doing the Conclave.
DOKOUPIL: How are you? Where you from?
KATHY FREEMAN: New Jersey.
DOKOUPIL: It’s part of America.
DOKOUPIL: Kathy Freeman and Nancy Flynn are flight attendants who just flew into Rome for work.
You're Catholics?
FREEMAN: I am, she's southerner. So --
DOKOUPIL: What does that mean? Protestant, Baptist?
FREEMAN: She’s Baptist.
DOKOUPIL: Many of the faithful we spoke to do believe God will, in fact, be guiding today's conclave.
What are you hoping for?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN 3: Not hoping for much because the Holy Spirit will hopefully lead either the cardinals or lead the pope after the decision. He'll be successor of Christ either way. It's not about my opinions.
DOKOUPIL: For Freeman, that's not so clear.
FREEMAN: I don’t know, I see it more political than divine intervention to be honest with you.
DOKOUPIL: How political? What do you mean?
FREEMAN: Just like politics in the United States. It's another government up there.
DOKOUPIL: Like more than 40 percent of American Catholics surveyed in a new CBS News poll, she's hoping the successor to Francis continues his teachings. But she's so unsatisfied with aspects of the current church, she raised her own children outside of it.
FREEMAN: I would love as a Catholic to see female intervention in all parts of the service.
DOKOUPIL: Really?
FREEMAN: Oh, yeah.
DOKOUPIL: You want to see female priests?
FREEMAN: Yes.
DOKOUPIL: It’s the kind of story Father Thomas Reese knows all too well. As a priest and a longtime chronicler of the faith.
FATHER THOMAS REESE: We're going through a crisis in the Catholic Church, in the United States and especially the global north. We have young people who just aren't interested and are leaving. It's something like one out of three people who are baptized Catholic no longer identify as Catholic in the United States. That's huge!
DOKOUPIL: How do you fix that?
REESE: If you have an answer, I'll vote for you as pope.
DOKOUPIL: Wait! Really? That's it? You don't know --
REESE: I don't think -- I think we're struggling.
DOKOUPIL: While enjoying the sights and the flavors of Rome, we also ran into these young men from Missouri who told us about the potential for change as they see it in the Catholic Church.
Are you hoping that the pope who emerges on that balcony in a matter of days takes the church in a more liberal direction or more conservative direction?
JACKSON GAETA: The goal -- I mean, ultimately is uniting both. That would be the most perfect thing to happen here.
ALEX HAROLD: More so than needing somebody who's left or right, we just need somebody who's like – is a champion of the faith, that everybody can get behind.
DOKOUPIL: Does the church need to accommodate certain modern beliefs and ways of life to fit them within the history of the church?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN 4: No.
HAROLD: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN 4: It's not how it works.
HAROLD: No. The church does not need to fit the age. That's why it's 2,000 years old.
[Cuts back to live]
DOKOUPIL: And Norah, that's one perspective right there. The church doesn't need to change. We want that continuity, they say. That's what makes it powerful and beautiful.
But so many other people like that flight attendant, Kathy Freeman, said I'm Catholic, I’m still Catholic, but my children are not. And in fact she said specifically because she wants to see women in positions of leadership.
NORAH O’DONNELL: It's a question that I asked Pope Francis in my interview, could a little Catholic girl grow up and think maybe she could be a deacon someday or member of the clergy. He said “no.” However, the Synod is studying the idea of women as deacons. And when I too was down there at St. Peter's Basilica, Sister Rose from the Sisters of St. Paul, came up and said, ‘yes, we need to push for more women should be part of the clergy.’
And so – people do, as you saw in our CBS News polling, they want someone – 40 percent want someone like pope Francis, another 20 percent want someone more progressive than him.
DOKOUPIL: Yeah. Yeah, it’s an amazing thing. Something Father Reese told me is that one of the issues with the church is they need more talent in the clergy, opening it up to women would be one way to that or maybe changing the celibacy laws.
O’DONNELL: And focusing on social justice.
DOKOUPIL: Yeah. We'll send it back to you all back in Times Square. The very opposite I would say of Vatican City.
GAYLE KING: The very opposite. Everybody's trying to read the tea leaves we'll know soon enough. Thank you both.
