George Weigel thanks President Bush

I am not alone in thinking that George Bush may be the most Catholic-friendly president the US will ever have. He may even become a Catholic now, as others have speculated, including myself.
He certainly was a great Christian, unashamed to admit that Jesus was his inspiration and Saviour, despite biting ridicule. Some day he will be repaid by that, and it won't be by Time Magazine.
"I should like to praise him for his steadfast support of the pro-life cause, domestically and internationally. Thanks to President Bush, we have two more Supreme Court justices who likely know that Roe v. Wade was terrible constitutional judging, and dozens more federal district court and appellate court judges with similar convictions. Thanks to President Bush, the U.S. government drew an important moral line in stem cell research, even as the administration accelerated bioethically sound research strategies that have produced real results. Internationally, the Bush administration stood firm against the Gadarene rush to use international law to declare abortion an international human right and a necessary component of the emancipation of women; as one senior Vatican official put it to me, a year ago, “We know we’re never going to have another American administration as supportive of our core issues as the Bush administration has been.”
Read the entire story in the Georgia Bulletin.

Two views on Pope Benedict at Newsweek

The first , "Why Benedict Doesn't Connect", says Benedict puts feelings before intellect in one part, and calls him a cold fish in another. This is what happens when you are moral relativist with no attachment to logic. The media said the same negative things about Pope John Paul II, he was out of touch with twentieth century values, he was too rigid in adhering to Church doctrine, and he was not going to connect with American Catholics. They never admitted how wrong they were during his lifetime, and only praise John Paul in order to bash Benedict.They are useful idiots for the Culture of Death.
George Weigel, on the other hand, has a more cohesive take on the papacy of Benedict. He cites Pope John Paul II's June 1979 visit to Poland which ignited Solidarity and brought down Communism. The New York Times was skeptical.
The different personalities of John Paul II and Benedict XVI sometimes mask their shared (and unshakable) conviction that religious and moral ideas can redirect the course of human affairs. And that, in turn, suggests the possibility that Benedict XVI may have had his own "June 1979 moment"—a moment that was missed, or misunderstood, at the time.
That moment was the most controversial episode in Benedict XVI's pontificate: his Regensburg Lecture on faith and reason, delivered at his old German university on Sept. 12, 2006. (isn't that exactly five years after 9/11/2001?)By quoting a Byzantine emperor's sharp critique of Islam, Benedict XVI drew worldwide criticism. Others, however, including significant personalities in the complex worlds of Islam, took the pope's point about the dangers of faith detached from reason quite seriously. And over the ensuing 19 months, there have been potentially historic tectonic shifts going on, both within Islam and in the world of interreligious dialogue.
I refer to these tremors in this post, picked up by the Chicago Sun-Times. This shows amazing courage on the part of the elderly intellectual. I am burning to know what the Holy Father will discuss with President Bush in their private 45 minute conversation tomorrow.
HT Newsweek