It's the common trait among all authoritarians pal. He sees that mankind is evolving away from the absurdity of religion and the abuses it brings and can feel his power slipping away.

For the first time in my life, I can bring up my atheism in almost any public conversation and find at least one or two others chime in that they believe the same thing.

Religion as the pope preaches is for the weak, scared, and illiterate. Human evolution seems to be slowly moving us away from its clutch. Imagine a movie like "The DaVinci Code" playing just 20 years ago. Every theater it hit would've been burned to the ground.

Art