Meanwhile, In Europe

Europe is secular and becoming more so. Pope Benedict XVI has been persistently reasserting the Church's moral authority for European states on such issues as same sex marriage, euthanasia, and communion for the divorced. He has focused on France, which is the model for a strict separation of church and state, as well as a leader in secularization. A good article on the Vatican's reassertion of its authority on European culture is in today's New York Times.

In my estimation Benedict and the Vatican's attempt to recoup the Church's authority through political wrangling is worth monitoring, particularly as the Church portrays itself as the underdog/outsider beleaguered by cultural elites. (This sounds familiar to Americans who have watched the political and religious Right follow similar strategies.)