The Republican Party's war with Pope Francis has finally started

It looks like 2015 is shaping up to be the year when Catholic conservatives declare war on Pope Francis. We heard the first rumblings last fall, when the preliminary draft of a statement produced by the extraordinary Synod on the Family inspired New York Times columnist Ross Douthat to warn ominously about the possibility of a schism in the church if the Vatican loosens doctrinal strictures against divorced (and remarried) lay people receiving the sacrament of Communion. But most Catholic conser...