The Catholic Church's Crisis

The Catholic Church has made some rather bold and surprising moves lately, beginning with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and leading to recent remarks by the new pope, Francis. It's obvious the Church is trying to step in a new direction, but will it actually work? In short, no. Before I explain why I would first like to propose a theory (obviously not in the scientific sense of the word.)
        The resignation of Pope Benedict was not a willful one. Forced may be too strong a word to use, but that's basically what I believe it came down to. The Catholic Church was, and still is, at a crisis point. (This part is no theory at all.) They realized this, and decided they needed to fix it. So what do they do? They 'force' the old, conservative, and controversial Benedict out, under the guise of physical inability. (When has this ever stopped them before?) They elect a new pope. A fresh start. Someone they can use to push their new agenda in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience and newer generations. It is also not a theory, but fact, that the Catholic Church is losing numbers in staggering amounts, hence the crisis point. They elect a pope who encompasses many of the problems and attacks the Church faces. With more and more young adults studying the sciences, the Church tries to appeal to them by choosing a chemist. Facing accusations of hypocrisy when it comes to helping the poor while they amass more wealth, they choose a man who willfully lived in poverty and helped the poor. Once the pope was in he began making some surprising remarks. An example is his remark that atheists, despite rejecting God, can still be considered good people, an obvious appeal to the growing non religious. Francis's latest quote regarded homosexuals, in which he stated "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge." Now this is not a new teaching in the Church, but it has been an issue the Church has remained quite mute on... until now. The Church has recognized the growing support for gay rights and has realized its effect on Church support. So to appeal to the new generation they start anew with a pope who can put out a new message.
        As I said, this is a theory. It is a fact, however, that the Church is at a crisis point. It is also fact that they have realized this and are working to fix it, to bolster its support and numbers. So why won't it work? Because they fail to realize the real reason for their downfall. And this one cannot be fixed.
Though the Church is losing members to other denominations and faiths, the main threat they face is the fast growing non religious population. It is the fastest growing group in the developed world, specifically among high school and college students, the next generation. The Catholic Church has obviously realized this, and as stated before, has made obvious attempts to confront this. They believe the main reason people are turning away from the Church is because of differences with the Church's social stances and appearances, such as with the numerous sex abuse scandals, the hypocrisy of wealth, views on women, and views on gay marriage. Society is becoming more liberal while the Church remains stuck in the past. This is what the Church believes is the problem and why people are increasingly becoming non religious. Though their reasons they face opposition are very true, their reasons for the growing irreligious are wrong. The Church fails to realize that the discourse is not with its social standpoints, but with its dogma and the very idea of a god.
        With more young adults becoming interested in the sciences, and the wealth of knowledge now readily available through the Internet, rational and scientific thought are becoming much more common. People are seeing the logical and ethical fallacies associated with God, religion, and the Bible. They see the incompatibility of science with the idea of a god. Contrary to what many claim, science and religion are not compatible. You cannot put forth fact based and evidenced laws and theories, and then say 'see all these rules based on logic, well a magical man in the sky made them.' It defies reason. And a growing number of people are realizing this. These are the reasons most people are becoming non religious. This is the Catholic Church's biggest threat, and since they certainly cannot abandon God, the Bible, or their dogma, it is one they can do absolutely nothing about.