In comments published over the weekend in a daily Catholic newspaper sponsored by the Italian bishops’ conference, former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke said the Democratic Party “risks transforming itself definitively into a ‘party of death.’”

According to a Catholic New Service story, Burke - now the head of the Vatican’s version of the supreme court - was told that musician Sheryl Crow played at the Democratic National Convention last month.

“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.”

Pro-life Democrats are…

Our religion-blogging compatriots at Get Religion, spotlighted a story from Politico Monday about Pope Benedict XIV’s U.S. visit that might be of interest to St. Louisans, especially St. Louis Catholics.

On Thursday, Benedict will celebrate the first of two stadium Masses during his visit. Thursday’s Mass will be at Washington’s new Nationals Stadium, and the second will be at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.

Politico reported that earlier this week, in ads placed in the Washington Times and in Politico,:

the anti-abortion-rights American Life League is urging the pontiff to “protect the body of Christ from the bloodstained hands of pro-abortion ‘Catholics’” by denying Communion to politicians who support abortion rights.

The issue of denying Communion to such politicians is well known to those who have followed St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke’s words and actions on this topic since his time as bishop of LaCrosse, Wis.

While most bishops agree that such politicians should not approach for Communion, a relatively…