The Question: What can Pope Benedict XVI say and do to repair the growing rifts between the Vatican, the clergy and the laity in America?

Pope Benedict XVI is surprising the American news media. Wasn't the former Cardinal Ratzinger supposed to crack the whip over the worldwide church and particularly its American branch? He was the "conservative," right?

When his charismatic predecessor, John Paul II, visited the United States on his three major pastoral visits (in 1979, 1987 and 1995) media coverage followed two increasingly standard paths--first the stories about widespread American dissent over sexual and gender issues, then (once the pope arrived), an outpouring of commentary on just how effective he was at working a crowd. The narratives came to be predictable, well-worn and, for that reason, absent the very component they were supposed to carry--news.

But this pastoral visit is different: Benedict has proven himself fully capable of creating his own narrative.

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The Question: Jeremiah Wright's sermons continue to be an issue in the presidential campaign. Why? What do you think of his preaching style? What do you wish you understood better about it?

What's made the Rev. Jeremiah Wright into America's most famous preacher is a single, short phrase, "God damn America," uttered during a sermon and repeated endlessly on various media loops. Yes, it's shocking, even when taken within its larger, sermonic context. And it's completely unsurprising that a great many people find it baffling and even enraging. The latest news media short-hand for the phrase is to call it "unpatriotic."

Is it really?

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