Should Gray Davis be allowed to take communion? Some conservative Roman Catholic leaders say no, but not because they’re stumping for the Austrian Oak. Rather, they’re part of a “social renewal” movement within the Church that seeks to show some muscle of its own by making politicians choose between their pro-choice views and their right to call themselves Catholics. The irony is that these “traditionalists” risk tarring the Church with the phony stigma JFK fought hard to overcome — the anti-Catholic canard that by putting a Catholic into office, you’re handing the reins to the Vatican. But these days, reports Sarah Wildman in The American Prospect, there’s a would-be pope at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who’d like to run the Catholic machine for his own ends. Bush isn’t the only one with his eyes on the Papal prize. Everyone’s favorite anti-man-dog-love activist, Bishop Santorum, tries to keep the parishioners in line — reported by Sarita Chourey in The Hill.