For years, people have complained about the dumbing down of doctrine in religious education courses, but this takes the cake: Catholics literally enraged because an atheist describes Catholic teaching fairly accurately.

The idea that everything can be attributed to financial motivations is a bit of an oversimplification, to be sure, but money can present incentives that act on us -- consciously and unconsciously -- and that does does tend to make "Follow the money" a maxim worth some consideration.

Synodality has become the buzzword of the present pontificate – Pope Francis has used the Synod of Bishops as the chief tool of pushing his agenda – only, what does "synodality" mean?

To change domestic policy, or even the course of a war, it is more important to amuse the monarch than inform him, and an insinuation will work better than an argument.

In an annual address to the Roman Rota, Pope Francis said the Church-appointed judges that hear marriage nullity cases “cannot disregard the memories, made up of light and shadows, that have marked the life, not only of the two spouses but also of the children.” It was a strange complaint to bring to this tribunal, since the Rota deals in nothing but cold, legal decisions.

US President Joe Biden may be Catholic, but he is pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, and pro-transgender rights, putting him at odds with the U.S. bishops, who have set up a task force for dealing with the new president -- and questions have been raised about how a meeting between Pope Francis and Biden might play out – and whether the pontiff will take a hard line with the president on life issues.

It seems it would take Solomon to figure out how to cut State down to size, but perhaps the wisest of ancient Israel’s kings has already provided a solution: Cut the baby in half.