At RealClearReligion.org, Rick Santorum has a column talking about how "It Is Hard to Be Catholic in Public Life." The Republican candidate for president makes it easier for himself, however, by distinguishing between "prudential matters" and "moral absolutes," a division that happens to cleave neatly along the Democratic-Republican divide:

As it has been pointed out to me on numerous occasions, there are moral issues where I have differed from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and even the pope -- welfare reform, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and some immigration policies.