Mr Obama is now level-pegging or leading among swing-groups such as Catholics and working-class whites.
Mr Clegg's wife, Miriam, is a Roman Catholic and his children have been brought up as Catholics.
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There are even cases of Poles brought up as Catholics, discovering their parents or grandparents were Jewish.
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Camilla is Anglican but her first marriage was to Catholic Andrew Parker Bowles, and the couple brought up their children as Catholics.
We as Catholics and Christians believe in the commandments of God.
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It was Albright's daughter Anne who told her that the Washington Post confirmed the rumors that have been spreading since Albright's name hit the headlines: that her parents were not raised as Catholics, celebrating family rituals of Easter and Christmas, as Albright had been told growing up.
Votes from Catholic believers seem to be distributed over the three main competitors (Bersani's Democratic Party, Berlusconi's People of Freedom and Monti's coalition) and uncertainty over their reactions might exacerbate the tones of the campaign, now in its two last weeks, since the three parties might be willing to appease as many Catholics as possible.
As some Catholics of European heritage drift away from the faith of their fathers, they are being replaced in the pews by Latino immigrants.
In the heyday of urban ethnic immigration, even anti-Semites allowed that Jews were good at selling drygoods and producing movies, just as Irish Catholics were known to keep a good saloon and walk a decent beat.
Since his election as Pope seven years ago, Benedict has consistently tried to correct what he regards as a misinterpretation of Vatican II, insisting that it did not mark a revolutionary break from the past, as liberal Catholics would have it, but rather a renewal of the best traditions of the ancient Church.
"As Roman Catholics worldwide prepare for the conclave, we are reminded that the current system remains an 'old boys club' and does not allow for women's voices to participate in the decision of the next leader of our church, " said Erin Saiz Hanna, head of the Women's Ordination Conference, a group that ordains women in defiance of church teaching.
The survival of the Howard family in Protestant England dating from Henry VIII is regarded by historians as an example of tenacity and by many Catholics as miraculous.
The Vatican is also keen on preserving Catholic loyalty in places such as South America, where dynamic evangelical sects have been attracting baptized Catholics away from their faith, as well as encourage growing communities of Catholics in Africa and Asia.
After all, it is hard to see the Scientologists or the Moonies being as politically palatable as Episcopalians and Catholics.
Observers are going to watch closely to see whether Pope Benedict has the same impact on the world's young Catholics as did his predecessor John Paul II.
Republican Catholics often cite abortion as the top issue, but for Catholics who are Democrats, other issues are more dominant.
Police fired a number of plastic baton rounds as rival crowds of Catholics and Protestants clashed.
This inflexibility is seen as having alienated many Catholics from regular church attendance in the religion's traditional heartland, Europe.
The city he ruled was rare in its time as a place where Catholics, Protestants and Jews lived together in relative harmony.
Iraq also has communities of Syrian Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Copts, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholics, as well as Anglicans and Evangelicals.
Set between two lakes, the town was chosen mainly because it has a reasonable mix of Protestants and Catholics, as well as two thriving integrated schools.
Conservative Roman Catholics such as Marcello Pera, a member of Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party who is speaker of the Senate, are big on defending Europe's Christian roots.
The present Northern Ireland team is evenly split between Catholics and Protestants, while Catholics such as Martin O'Neill and Pat Jennings enjoyed distinguished Northern Ireland careers without ever being subjected to abuse.
When Jorge Bergoglio stepped onto the balcony at the Vatican on Wednesday evening to reveal himself as the new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, he made history as the first non-European pope of the modern era, the first from Latin America, the first Jesuit and the first to assume the name Francis.
According to a recent Pew research poll, U.S. Catholics see it as the most pressing issue the Vatican faces.
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Before the visit, many Mexican Catholics perceived Benedict as a distant and reserved pope who felt uneasy when interacting with people -- a perception the Catholic and the Mexican Church were trying to lay to rest.
Otherwise, the emerging narrative of a down-to-earth man, thrust into power but mostly indifferent to the trappings of his position, driven by a special concern for the poor has proved especially encouraging to many frazzled Catholics, especially as, in a cynical time, it just may turn out to be the tale closest to the truth.
Yet it would be a mistake to view Benedict as only clinging to dogmas many Catholics no longer can fully accept.
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While the world is understandably titillated by such matters, Catholics at risk such as Thomas, in Kashmir, see their stories go largely untold.
Downing Street said the scrapping of the ban on heirs to the throne marrying Roman Catholics was discussed, as was giving royal women equal rights.
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