Free Republic

I... After careful prayer and... Sorry. Even though it is April Fools Day I just can't pull this off.

However one views the cleavages, one report bound to garner some chatter is the recently-released Faith in Public Life poll on the preferences and views of young churchfolk across the religious spectrum. CNS runs the numbers from the Romish crowd: The survey indicated that younger Catholics are less traditional than older Catholics. More young Catholics identified themselves as Democrats than as Republicans -- 54 percent to 35 percent -- whereas older Catholics were almost evenly split between the two political parties. Only 28 percent of young Catholics said they are politically conservative, compared to 42 percent of older Catholics....

The Pope has blood on his hands The Pope did great damage to the church, and to countless Catholics Terry Eagleton Monday April 4, 2005 Guardian John Paul II became Pope in 1978, just as the emancipatory 60s were declining into the long political night of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. As the economic downturn of the early 70s began to bite, the western world made a decisive shift to the right, and the transformation of an obscure Polish bishop from Karol Wojtyla to John Paul II was part of this wider transition. The Catholic church had lived through its...

President Bush will award Pope John Paul the Presidential Medal of Freedom Friday, the highest U.S. civilian award, a U.S. official said Thursday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the pontiff was being honored for "years of fighting for freedom and for his important moral voice."