More Wishful Thinking

I can't promise how long the juxtaposition will persist, but as I write this two successive stories on Politico are the following:

A Landslide for Gay Marriage in Ireland
Pope's Pronouncement Making Trouble for GOP Catholics

Am I the only one who sees the first story making the second one moot? If the Church can't get a majority for its view of marriage in the world's most Catholic country - Ireland - who imagines this pope's liberation theology-tinged populist pronouncements will in any way discommode Republican Catholics in the U.S.?

American Catholics are well-practiced in selective obedience, their birth rate is essentially identical to that of non-Catholics and quite a lot are both divorced and remarried. The second article is but another example of a liberal's wishful thinking, in print.