I suspect that, as shocking as it may seem, there are millions of Catholics in America who have no position on whether priests should be allowed to marry and don’t particularly feel obligated to have a position on it. I’m one of them. Sure, there are divisions among self-described Catholics in America on birth control and abortion. But the “factions”–liberals who resent conservatives and vice-versa–make up only a fraction of the church.

It’s like the culture wars in American society generally. There are ideologues on both sides, and millions more people who have affinities for one side or the other–but those millions generally don’t understand themselves as taking part in a culture war.

I’m also guessing that, contrary to David Von Drehle’s assertion, there are plenty of American Catholics who had never heard of Cardinal Ratzinger until recently, let alone spent time “fighting over” him.