Impact of Pope's U.S. Visit; Pope Francis and Family Issues

Watch more of our interview with Father James Halstead, who teaches a course on marriage at DePaul University in Chicago.

The Roman Catholic Church’s understanding of the permanent nature of marriage “is really meant to be a countercultural position,” says Professor Susan Ross of Loyola University’s theology department. “The Church’s challenge is to find a way to hold marriage as this sacred bond, while recognizing the very human situation in which it falls apart.”

American Catholics, says Rev. Thomas Reese of National Catholic Reporter, live out their faith in the local parish, and "they want to meet somebody like Pope Francis. And if the clergy and the bishops and the people aren’t like Pope Francis, or namely like Jesus, more welcoming, compassionate, loving, they’re going to turn around and never come back."