Catholic Big Kahuna calls for more bonking, but not for everyone. Archbishop George Pell, today: “There is a crisis in the Western world. No Western country is producing enough babies to keep the population stable, no Western country,” he said.

“23 words, and three of them are ‘Western’– that subtext should be clear enough for even the masses to get the message. Wimminz, on your backs: you owe it to your country. And you non-Western folk, stop reproducing and get back to the jungle at once.” — Pavlov’s Cat

Climate change sceptic. The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney has called on Australia to populate or perish and declared himself a climate change sceptic – a day after the Pope called on Catholics to change their way of life to deal with global warming. — Tom Nelson

WYD: catholics gone wild. It’s always reassuring to be told by a single, 67 year old male who wears frocks and a red hat such things as, ‘breed more’ or ‘climate change is a symptom of pagan emptiness’. — New Matilda

Is criticism of WYD automatically Catholic bashing? It may well be that a residue of sectarian anti-Catholicism might be in play on the margins of all this, but one of the big ironies is that while Tony Abbott and others speculated that Pope Benedict’s message might not be communicated effectively, the Pope himself has seemingly become a football to be kicked around by the usual suspects in distinctly Australian culture wars which often have only a tenuous connection with his concerns. — Larvatus Prodeo