The Hill's Kevin Cirilli reported on Tuesday that "Pope Francis is increasingly driving a wedge between the GOP and the Catholic Church" – but has "sparked new enthusiasm around the world for the church [sic]."  It appears that only retrograde American conservatives can't get on board with the unprecedentedly popular pontiff, who, Cirilli details, has a 78% favorability rating among Americans and a 93% rating among American Catholics. Maybe The Hill has a dream in which only 23% of Americans, and only 7% of American Catholics, are Republicans.  And where the Catholic Church mirrors the American political divide, and only Democrat popes can "spark enthusiasm" while Republican ones usher in decline. The real world is a little different.  While there will always be a robust debate in the Catholic Church between traditional-leaning Catholics and progressive-leaning ones, the Church on the whole tends to defy the polarized...(Read Full Post)