>See the constant harping on the usage of "everyone" just once
>as if I meant literally everybody in the world.
>I'm just using common language.
>Substitute in "people" for "everyone" if it makes you feel
>better.

Just like you're using the idea of me feeling better to inflate your idea of what my emotional response is, despite being ignorant to the truth of it.

>
>Why waste keystrokes trying to come to some understanding when
>the reply is going to just be "So everyone thinks that"?

Because everyone is common language used to distort the significance of a principle or phenomenon. Of course some people will turn on the Pope. See also, water is wet. There will be extremes of response, but there are also plenty of people in the middle who will support the Pope when his statements are in line with their views and be critical when they're not.

I guess that doesn't sound as sexy as saying everyone though, does it?

Also interesting to note that coming to an understanding only appears to apply to others understanding you.