Last week I blogged about the curious distinction between spirituality and religion made by Clifford Longley on Thought for the Day. Today a friend has sent me a recent review by Colm Tóibín in the London Review of Books that makes a similar distinction. Tóibín, raised an Irish Catholic and a writer of distinction, states, “As Wojtyla’s health declined, it was tempting to imagine that there was a cardinal in waiting... who would move from the ranks of conformity into a position of leadership and would dismantle Church teaching on sexuality, clerical celibacy, human reproduction and the rights of women, matters which were bringing the Church to its knees, distracting from its spiritual mission.”