Santorum says the 45,000,000 Protestants in America are not Christians

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Santorum has done irreperable damage to the reputation of the Catholic Church (which even in America is majority pro-choice and pro-gay marriage).  It's heart-breaking.

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Santorum has done irreperable damage to the reputation of the Catholic Church (which even in America is majority pro-choice and pro-gay marriage).  It's heart-breaking.

Catholics may be pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. The Catholic Church (the entity as distinct from its adherents) is most certainly not.

So?  A group (Catholics, Protestants, Democrats, Republicans, Tea Partiers, whatever) should be judged by what its members actually believe, not what they're unenforceably "supposed" to believe.

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I'd be quite surprised if a majority of US Catholics were pro-choice or pro-gay marriage.

This is people who identify as Catholic, not necessarily practicing Catholics.

Even then I'd be surprised. Bush won Catholics in 2004 and then take into account many who voted for Kerry are Hispanic.

Um...nice cherry picking your data there.  Obama won Catholics by nearly 10 points, but you ignore that to pull an election out of the past?

Why do you have some weird quest to prove that Catholics are right-wing?  Polls have consistently shown that Catholics support gay marriage, contraceptives, and abortion rights.  Most of them have been discussed on this site, and a simple Google search for "catholic poll gay marriage" will show lots of different articles and polls affirming that.

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I'm not quite sure why a definition - Catholic in opposition to what the church teaches ought to be more substantial than defining a Catholic as one who accepts what the Church teaches. You wouldn't call someone who rejected Christ a protestant - you'd call them an ex-protestant.

Why square the circle? If you're willing to publicly oppose the Church then you aren't a Catholic in good standing.

I believe most of what the Catholic Church believes, and ignore the rest, just as anyone does on any religion.  It's impossible to find a 100% perfect fit, so I, like anyone else, find the closest fit.  If you want to tow the line and believe Catholic doctrine 100%, that's your right, but you can't just declare someone who doesn't to be not Catholic.

The vast majority of Catholics ignore some of the silliest church teachings (such as the asinine contraception ban), and recent polls show that a slim majority of Catholics actually favor legalized abortion and gay marriage.  Obviously, I'm not alone on the find-the-best-fit-and-ignore-what-you-don't-believe fit.

The right-wing minority can whine about that all they want and wish we were denied Communion, but they'll never get that wish.