Fr. Sirico on Mario Cuomo, John Roberts

Rev. Robert Sirico of the Acton Institute ["for the study of religion and liberty"], made a guest appearance on the Laura Ingraham Show this morning to discuss Mario Cuomo's interview with Timothy Russert (Sunday - Meet The Press - transcript), the Catholic faith of John Roberts and the greater issue of the role of Catholics in public life.

You can listen to the interview by clicking here (3.5 mb .mp3 file). It's a good one. As Sirico noted, is on occasions like this that the press likes to trot out Catholics "with a dubious relationship to the Church" to present themselves as the ideal of how Catholics ought to behave in modern secular America . . . as opposed to say, the strange folk.

(Via Marc Vander Maas @ Acton Institute Powerblog).

More discussion of Cuomo at Amy Welborn's.

Cuomo: Is Roberts a Vatican Robot?

Press release from the Catholic League on "Catholic" Gov Cuomo's comments yesterday re: Judge Roberts:

NEW YORK, Aug 8 /Christian Wire Service/-- Catholic League president William Donohue commented today on what former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo had to say yesterday about Supreme Court nominee John Roberts:

"Mario Cuomo said yesterday on 'Meet the Press' that he wants senators to ask John Roberts the following questions: 'Are you going to impose a religious test on the Constitution? Are you going to say that because the pope says this or the Church says that, you will do it no matter what?'

"Now if a non-Catholic had suggested such questions, he would quickly be branded a Catholic basher. But it should be no more excusable for a Catholic to raise such questions. For Cuomo to float the idea that John Roberts might be a Vatican robot is as shameless as it is anti-Catholic. By doing so, he not only provides fodder to the enemies of the Catholic Church, he further discredits his credentials as a Catholic spokesman."