Quebec, Canada - The Pope is the direct link from Earth to God for devout Roman Catholics, but Canadian priest Philippe Boudreau rarely feels papal wrath in his everyday work. But when the Pope does speak, Boudreau listens.
Popes make decisions few committed Catholics dare challenge - in the open, at least - but the power a pontiff wields over the everyday life of Canadian Catholics often depends on where they live and who runs their local diocese or parish.
"Usually the Pope's teaching is a guide to us in the modern world. He is a moral compass for guiding our lives to help us deal with moral and ethical questions," said Boudreau, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate from Trois-Rivieres, Que., who was watching pilgrims sing and pray in St. Peter's Square on Sunday.
"But every once in a while, something comes down to the bishop that will say, 'This is the way it's going to be.' And that's the way it is."
Cardinals performed Sunday services around Rome before retiring behind closed doors to pray and discuss the future of the church following the death of Pope John Paul. The cardinals will begin a conclave April 18 to elect a new pope.
Many of the cardinals have helped craft what the Vatican calls "universal law," but the application of rules in the church in Canada is far from uniform.
In recent years, the Pope and his Vatican assistants have issued edicts cracking down on all kinds of activity among Catholics in Canada and abroad.
Officials are currently trying to curb popular general absolutions that priests often perform outside the confessional, particularly in Quebec.
The mass-confessions allows worshippers to avoid the discomfort of the confessional, where the faithful are expected to admit their sins and face difficult questions and penance.
John Paul also tried to limit the growing number of churches in the 1990s that used lay ministers - most of them women - to perform some services amid a growing shortage of priests.
Not all Catholic leadership on the ground in Canada follows such orders, according to Carolyn Sharp, a professor of religion at St. Paul's University in Ottawa.
"In Toronto the official policy is women are not to preach," said Sharp, the former editor of Relations, a Jesuit journal.
"Women do not do it. In Quebec, they say there are competent lay people to preach, we need people to preach, so obviously women will do it.
"And I can guarantee you some priests in Quebec will continue with general absolution."
Sharp pointed to many other issues where Roman Catholic rules are far from uniform. She said a savvy operator who finds a sympathetic priest can divorce, get an annulment and remarry within the church. Faithful who are not as well connected are often blocked.
In Ontario and parts of Western Canada, many Catholic schools have strict requirements demanding church attendance by employees.
In Quebec, few such questions are ever asked.
"In Ontario, the school janitor needs a letter from a priest saying he goes to church every week," she said. "In British Columbia, a bishop once closed a school because of the lack of Catholics on staff.
"I can't imagine those things happening in Quebec. In Quebec, (the) church has a lot of legal power but people would not tolerate the power being used."
Diversity is allowed because the Vatican draws up laws and sets the tone while local bishops and priests run parishes, according to Rev. Jean Picher, a senior official in the Quebec archdiocese.
Picher, who is in Rome to assist Marc Cardinal Ouellet as he prepares for the conclave, says the Pope strikes a tone, not the daily workings of a parish.
"He sets the general atmosphere for the church, the general image," said Picher, who was a parish priest for 23 years.
"It's just as important, no? The style of a man and the way he expressed publicly is very important and has a great influence over the way the church evolves."
Sharp said a misconception exists that the Pope is infallible. While a pope makes final decisions and can, in rare circumstances, make his teachings infallible, the church can reverse course on issues, she said. Although it often takes time, she added.
Despite diverse application of the rules, Sharp says the identity of the next pope could make a big difference to Canadians.
John Paul was an unexpected darkhorse conservative who froze the modernization of the church's social policies and centralized control.
Paul VI in the 1960s openly advocated local control, especially on social issues, ditched Latin as the language of mass and generally set the church on a road to modernization.
Besides, if local bishops still control the application of many church edicts, it's the Pope who promotes like-minded priests, Sharp pointed out.