Marge Berer, Editor, Reproductive Health Matters

We all have to decide when it’s time to step down as we age, and now we can say “even the Pope”. I’m a few decades younger than him but I can already see that decision waiting in my future too. Maybe he is too frail in mind and body. At his age, he has a right to be. Maybe he’s had one too many scandals related to sexual abuse to deal with, and he doesn’t want to cope with any more, or know what to do about them, or how to prevent more of them taking place without compromising what he stands for. I’m sorry he is unwell, but I’m glad to see the back of his policies.

My hope is that his virulent misogyny, dressed in sheep’s clothing, his support for women’s deaths through unsafe abortion, his unswerving opposition to condoms and contraception, his condemnation of so many aspects of sexuality, are all stepping down with him, never to return.