It's not easy being turbulent priests

The Catholic Church’s crisp four-page letter to voters ahead of May’s general election has been welcomed in the secular right-wing media as passionately as the Church of England’s own, 52-page guide was condemned. The Daily Mail in a leader claimed the contrast could hardly be more stark between a CofE document that “could have been dictated by Labour HQ” and a Catholic one which “focuses firmly on the great moral questions of our time”. As with past such guidance (the CofE document, unlike the Catholic bishops’, is unprecedented), the Catholic letter emphasises what it calls life issues, prominently asking: “Where do the candidates … stand on assisted suicides, euthanasia [and] abortion…?” This is hardly surprisi