I refer to the letter Late John Paul II rigid, Church inflexible .

First, kindly allow me to say that I'm no professor of theology, no PhD holder and no expert in any field, just a common layman, a mortal being, a law-abiding and God-fearing 'devil'!

I used to have the same (negative) views expressed by the writer of the letter above until I was finally fortunate enough to read and digest the essence of our great Pope John Paul's message to his flock.

For over 2,000 years, the Church has been under attack and persecuted by many quarters, and it will continue to be watched and attacked by radicals negative elements from both within and without.

The writer's 'condom-nation' of the Church and the uphill tasks it faces in preventing sexual promiscuity among the young, abortion and other concerns seem to be a favourite subject of many writers against the Church.

The late John Paul espoused many virtues of the Church. His reply to the above letter would be this: 'The Church cannot change to accommodate all the wants of man. We, as faithful and followers of Christ must change to meet God's laws'.

To me, this message is simple yet meaningful and appropriate in moderating man's needs and God's commandments.

As the saying goes, in order for positive change in our life, we must change first. And in order to lead a quality life all the vices or 'realities' of life must be confronted first at all costs.

Yes, the Church (or the Pope, in the above letter) is a threat to homosexuality and abortion, and it will continue to be a threat to many of our so-called new lifestyles in this 'modern' world of ours.

And yes, the Church is a threat to single adults sexual rights that undermine the very fabric of morality and threatens to destroy the normal family institution. (If we are not on our guard from now, one of these days we may have to recognise and accept the fact that members of our future generation may just want to marry a cow in a cowshed!)

The Church is also a real threat to those who would take no responsibility for their actions and want to be answerable to none.

But also be aware that the Church is a great threat to communism and terrorism as well as a threat to apartheid and dictatorship.

What is this world going to be if there is no one checking all our wants without justifications? And for this, the Church is attacked as 'inflexible', 'rigid' and 'uncompromising' in its tasks.

I cannot imagine the catastrophe if the Church or any Pope had sanctioned all the demands of the devil under the guise of the 'majority' to dictate terms. Democratic principles or the rule of the majority cannot always be right and must not be a gauge to justify any change in the fundamentals, perceptions or laws of the Church.

Just because 90 percent of the world's Catholics choose to find much pleasure to pursue their physical needs, or to use condoms or to disregard the virtues of celibacy in priesthood or to ignore the established constraints of women in priesthood, doesn't mean that the Church must abandon its teachings and submissively kowtow to the might of the majority.

Mind you, history will confirm that it is usually not the might of the majority that changes things; on contrary it has always been almost the minority such as Jesus Christ, or the Buddha, Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and yes, John Paul II.

God's chosen few who would sacrifice everything in their life to lead and uphold God's law for humanity and the world. Condemning John Paul II is the easy part. Carrying the burden that he did, now that's the hard part.