Former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, recently promoted to the Vatican as head of the Apostolic Segnatura (a kind of church Supreme Court, only more complicated) wastes no time making waves on the other side of the pond. In an interview with Avvenire, the daily of the Italian bishops conference, Burke was asked if he knew that Sheryl Crow, whose supportfor abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research led the archbishop to bar her from a 2007 benefit at a Catholic children's hospital in St. Louis, also performed at the Democratic convention:

"That does not surprise me much," the archbishop said. "At this point the Democratic Party risks transforming itself definitely into a 'party of death' because of its choices on bioethical questions as Ramesh Ponnuru wrote in his book, 'The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts and the Disregard for Human Life.'"Archbishop Burke said the Democratic Party once was "the party that helped our immigrant parents and grandparents better integrate and prosper in American society. But it is not the same anymore."

Burke goes on to express the view that more American bishops are coming around to his view regarding denying communion to pro-choice Catholic pols, which was once seen as a distinctly minority opinion.Meanwhile, Ramesh Ponnuru must be happy. No?