Since early May 11, Israeli bombs have been falling around the Rosary Sisters school in Gaza, which sustained light to moderate damage inside and outside the compound -- including to the front door and solar panels used for electricity.

Christian prayer, like all Christian life, is not a “walk in the park.”

On Sunday, Father Jan Korditschke will hold a ceremony at a Jesuit parish in Berlin for any couple, gay or straight, who seeks a blessing from the church.

The lay ministry of catechist, the pope said, gives recognition to “those lay men and women who feel called by virtue of their baptism to cooperate in the work of catechesis.”

Even in the exceedingly unlikely event that every bishop miraculously agreed on how to approach the question of Communion and abortion, it still would not resolve the political question of abortion in favor of the Catholic position.

When people meet me, at the Capitol or in a church, they may wonder or even ask me politely, “Are you a conservative or a liberal?” I smile and say, “I’m just a Catholic.”