Argentine church is dying, and it happened under Francis' watch

want to know why the Pope thinks changing the laws on marriage is the way to go?

Because Catholicism has tanked in Argentina on his watch, and he doesn't see it's partly his fault, and wants the church to conform to the modern world's hedonism, not the lessons of thousands of years of human experience found in Judeo Christian (and Muslim and Confucian) ethics.

and i have to laugh:  because he is behind the times: Even Hollywood is rejecting the promiscuity of the elite: and people are daring to suggest traditional values might work to help the poor not be poor, and be good for children.

He is stuck in the 1970's. Or as Father Greeley used to quip: When the Catholics drop something, it is taken up by someone else. In this case, self control in sexual matters and faithfulness in marriage are popping their heads up in society, and (alas) not by pastors but by secular leaders.

GetReligion has an article link to the NYT on the failure of Argentinians to bother to marry.

Real weddings have been on the decline in Buenos Aires — less than half of what they were about 20 years ago — as couples are simply living together or waiting longer to marry. When they do, they do not necessarily want a traditional church ceremony. In 2014, a Pew Research survey found only 20 percent of Argentines went to church regularly, one of the lowest figures in the region.

more details in the Buenas Aires Herald (2014)

Significantly, the changes have occurred in a lifetime, with the reduction in Catholicism being described both by gains in the Protestant population and the tranche of the population who has elected to not participate in organized religion. Furthermore, in every single one of the 18 countries surveyed by Pew, Catholic populations shrank and Protestant and unaffiliated communities expanded. For Argentina and in terms of net change, the size of the Catholic population fell by 15 percent, the Protestant community increased by eight percent and those without any any affiliation rose by six percent.

one sees a similar trend in Hispanics migrating to the USA, in Mexico, and  here in the Philippines.

Too many who need a church that is more than a feel good society tend to migrate over to a Protestant church, and those who don't care just leave.

Vatican II did a lot of good things, but alas too many of the "middle Magagement" (to use Father Greeley's term) have used it to destroy the church and implement what they wanted: a church of social work that ignores the problem of evil, suffering, and now to serve the Lord in the duties of our daily lives.

relationship to Jesus? Not stressed. Alas, the traditional ways that Catholics had that relationship, i.e. in the Eucharist, are also being watered down as a feel good symbol, not a reality.

what is going on in Argentina is important: Because if the morality of the west collapses, and the Christians go along with it, then something else will take it's place: New age Green ideas are one religion, but tend to push individual enlightenment and global wonderfulness, not the importance of family and caring for one's neighbor.

But Islam is there to fill the bill, as are the Pentecostal Christians and Mormons.

ah, but the press and the elite love Francis.

But the deplorables? Most ignore him and drift away from religion, and those who care about God are either asking "WTF" and cheering on those few bishops who ask WTF is going on, or quietly going to another church.