The liturgical winds of change keep blowing: Fresh off his restoration of the Latin Mass, Pope Benedict XVI is polling the world's bishops about moving the sign of peace to the time of the preparation of the gifts from its current position just before Communion.

There's much to celebrate after a succesful Catholic-Muslim summit is Rome last week. The 15-point joint statement of the Muslim and Christian scholars is a healthy step on the road to a more constructive relationship betweeen Islam and Christianity.

The Catholic swing vote appears to have gone to Obama yesterday, with most exit poling showing the Democrat make huge gains among Catholics over John Kerry's results in 2004. Beliefnet.com has some interesting numbers, along with commentary from Beliefnet editor Steven Waldman.

California's Proposition 8, if passed today, will overturn a recent California Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex couples to marry. Those in favor and opposed have spent a staggering $70 million on the campaign. Among the high-profile contributors favoring passage: The Knights of Columbus, whose New Haven, Conn.

As U.S. voters head to the polls tomorrow, another set of partisans will be gathering, hopefully for something rhetorically less than a debate. At long last and two years after Pope Benedict XVI drew a negative response from many in the Muslim world after his Regensburg speech, a group of 24 Muslim scholars will meet 24 Roman Catholic counterparts for a three-day summit.

Though not on the radar screen of most Catholics, the actions (or lack thereof) of Pope Pius XII during World War II are straining Catholic-Jewish relations.

Two Texas bishops, Kevin Farrell of Dallas and Kevin Vann of Fort Worth, have issued a strongly worded joint statement about the priority of abortion as a moral issue in this election season. Contrary to many interpretations of the U.S.

One of the pope's nicer expressions from his trip to Lourdes has been turned around in a bit of a challenge to him. Arguing for a greater welcome for Catholics who want to celebrate Mass in Latin, the pope said: "Everone has a place in the church, every person without exception should be able to feel at home and never rejected." St.

Businessweek has a terrific piece on the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management. Founded by Geoffrey Boisi, a former JP Morgan Chase exec, the roundtable brings together Catholics from the world of big business to put together best practices for parishes. Good idea, too, since Catholic dioceses in the U.S.

For those wondering if Joe Biden was going to be able to receive Communion in his own diocese anymore, Catholic News Service has his bishop's comments on the question: "I look forward to the opportunity to enter into a dialogue on a number of issues with Sen.