Is George Bush about to follow Blair into Catholicism?

Could converting to Catholicism be set to join hitting the after-dinner speaking circuit on the list of things for world leaders to do after they leave office? According to the Italian weekly Panorama (via Reuters' Faith World blog), George W Bush is poised to follow the Reverend Tony's lead and covert to the Catholic faith once he leaves the White House next January.

Before anyone gets too carried away, let us clarify that this story appears spurious at best. Reuters' blogger Philip Pullella is entirely unconvinced, saying that "the odds of this happening appear as good as those of the proverbial snowball in hell."

Panorama's evidence for this claim amounts to the fact that Methodist Bush prayed with Pope Benedict during his recent visit to the US, that Bush's brother Jeb converted to join his Mexican wife as a Catholic, and that several of the President's close advisers are Catholic.

And that's pretty much it. Catholic blogger Father John Duhlsdorf provides his own English translation and dismisses the story with the introduction "Wanna read an article typical of much of the Italian press?", before concluding that "A lot of this article is pure fantasy. "

So, to sum up, don't expect to see George W confessing in a booth adjacent to Tony's any time soon.

Tony Blair calls for more faith

So, last night our former Prime Minister made a speech declaring the aims of his new Faith Foundation, the reasons he thinks religion can solve the world's problems, and why all the religions are capable of getting along by uniting around "common values".

You can read all about Tony's big moment in the Westminster Cathedral spotlight through these reports on the Guardian and Independent. It's also worth checking out the Times' political sketch: "This was an important speech for Mr Blair, really his coming out speech as a Christian. The politician who did not do God no longer exists. In his place is a man who does God and does God big."

What particularly struck me was one of the reasons Blair gave for why politicians might not want to publicly express their religious zeal – because people might think they are "somehow messianically trying to co-opt God to bestow a divine legitimacy on your politics."

So Tony's clearly saying that he didn't seek "divine legitimacy" for his major decisions. This from the man who told Michael Parkinson that God will judge him over Iraq.