text: BXVI is known for a statement he made long before 2009:  "The Christian believer is a simple person; bishops should protect the faith of these little people against the power of intellectuals.”
  
  For over 30 years, priests and bishops and many of the faithful, have lived out of that earlier picture of the parishioner as a "simple person."  He selected (and helped JPII select) bishops, cardinals and staffed the Vatican with those who seem to have firmly believed in their duty to "protect... these little people..."  And to silence those who thought otherwise.
  
  Then, by 2009, BXVI realizes a need for "... a change in mindset, particularly concerning lay people. They must no longer be viewed as 'collaborators' of the clergy but truly recognized as 'co-responsible,' ..."
  
  Now these "little people" are "co-responsible" (with the big people, I suppose).  Wow!  somehow, we grew up and are to be trusted and respected as adults.  
  
  So, lets talk about contraceptives, roles of women, ...