Between Iraq and a hard case, Bush to chat with Benedict

It appears President Bush is going to experience that exquisite anxiety known to any Catholic school boy ever called into the principal's office . . .

"Bush returns to the Vatican tomorrow for his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. If the White House is looking for a change in the Vatican's stance against the war in Iraq, it is unlikely to get it from Benedict."

Here's the whole story.

Immigration reform stalls

The grand compromise on immigration has perhaps run into the immovable object of its own inherent contradictions. While it is no surprise that hard-core conservatives, mostly Republicans, aren't in the least mood to compromise on what they see as a cop-out amnesty for millions who broke the law in coming to America, a lot of of their liberal counterparts joined the USCCB in decrying the rush compromise's new provisions for a merit system to regulate immigration flows, abandoning the priority previously alloted to family reunification.

What happens next appears to be anyone's guess, but it's likely that if some form of immigration reform does not move through Congress soon, the entire issue will be overwhelmed by the presidential election campaign next fall and may have to be taken up by the next man--or woman--to take the oath of office in 2009. See Father Tom Joyce, CMF's worthy blog for ongoing coverage of all things related to immigration.