Win Bassett

Writer, lawyer and entering student, Yale Divinity School

Members of Generation Y agree that the Catholic Church needs a change, and the transition of its leader is the prime opportunity to disrupt the status quo.

Dr. Faheem Younus

Muslim, professor, doctor and philanthropist

When my parents enrolled me in a Catholic school in Pakistan, our neighbors expressed a concern: Will my faith be at risk because of attending a Catholic school? As it turns out, the Catholic school taught me the lost Muslim value of grappling with disagreements in a non-threatening way.

Rev. Marie Siroky

Ordained UCC minister, LGBT advocate, Cubs Fan

It is time the Conclave of Cardinals action is one that displays leadership, not authority. It is time they acknowledge the leaders they already have for the faithful.

Jon M. Sweeney

Author, book publisher, culture critic

When Benedict issued his resignation a few weeks ago, those of us who know about Celestine immediately thought of the 1294 pope, and what happened to him. Like Celestine, I have to believe that Benedict, too, wanted to get out alive. And so, now, we need a pope who loves to clean things up.

Thom Nickels

Philadelphia-based author/journalist

No matter where I travel, whether it's to Louisville, Ky., Vienna, a remote island in the Caribbean, Paris, Montreal or Quebec City -- I see revamped Catholic sacred spaces and cathedrals stripped bare.

Robert E. Murphy

Columnist, Life-Long Brooklynite

These questions come to me as, almost simultaneously, the pope resigns, America's leading newspaper reports day after day about continuing sexual abuse, homosexual culture and political intrigue in the Church, and Professor Wills, this country's most longstanding and prolific Catholic gadfly, publishes perhaps his most iconoclastic book yet about Christian faith.

Samantha Parent Walravens

Author, 'Torn: True Stories of Kids, Career and the Conflict of Modern Motherhood'

Over the past year, we have seen evidence of several organizations where moral integrity is a given fall prey to widespread child sexual abuse. Like the Catholic Church, these institutions chose to protect themselves and their own image rather than the lives of innocent victims.

Robert Weller

Journalist and cyberflaneur

In this Internet era, the bigger the target the harder it falls. Often claims are made and posted without ever being read by an editor. In the name of freedom of speech, anything can be said.

Abraham H. Foxman

National Director, Anti-Defamation League

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, which officially takes effect on February 28, brings to a sudden and unexpected close a remarkable eight-year period of very positive relations between the Vatican and the Jewish people.

Andreas Widmer

Author, 'The Pope & The CEO: Pope John Paul II's Lessons in Leadership to a Young Swiss Guard'

The pope is chosen based on faith and reason. It's not a chess game. It's not about power. Pope is not a position that people aspire to the way they do President or CEO.

Nancy Dallavalle

Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Fairfield University

Bottom line: If the pope can resign, the rest of us can say goodbye to the cult of suffering and the cultic exaltation of the priesthood -- and we can welcome women to the pulpit, the poor to our table, and the laity to the exercise of their own common sense.

Rev. Daniel C. Kostakis

Open Episcopal Minister

A Lenten tradition in Western Christianity is to meditate upon the journey Christ took to Calvary. Only by walking with Christ and seeing just how much he truly loved everyone can we begin to love others in the same fashion.

Michael Sigman

Writer/Editor; Music Publisher

Accusations that one of the most powerful American Zen Buddhist figures of the past half-century has sexually harassed, groped and bullied hundreds of female students have unleashed outrage in the Buddhist community.

Joshua Kors

Investigative Reporter, The Nation

Kirby Dick spoke with me about The Invisible War's success, the courage of the soldiers who shared their stories, and what it will take to make sure these victims are no longer invisible to the press, the public and those in power.

Rev. James Martin, S.J.

Catholic priest and author, 'The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything'

Dear Cardinals: I know you've got a tough job coming up in the conclave. You have to do the impossible: elect a guy who is super holy, wicked smart, speaks about a dozen languages and can run an international conglomerate. So to make things easier, I'd like to suggest a candidate: Me.

Roy Speckhardt

Executive Director, American Humanist Association

For humanists, the selection of the next pope is a win-win situation. Either a more humanistic modernizing force will be elected to help bring the church into the 21st century, or a conservative traditionalist will be chosen and continue the Catholic flight from faith.