Just below those top-line figures on religious affiliation, significant changes in national identity also become clear—29 percent of the Northern Irish population now see themselves exclusively as Irish. This is just three points behind the 32 percent who consider themselves British.

From 1993: The second volume of a biography of Evelyn Waugh occasioned John W. Donohue, S.J., to offer a survey of the great English Catholic writer's life.

The tributes and gestures from the leaders of Irish political parties long established in the European mainstream came as no surprise. What came as something of a shock—especially to some of their supporters—were statements issued by the leaders of Sinn Féin, the party most associated with the Irish Republican Army.

While most people, when asked to describe the relationship between the papacy and the British monarchy, would likely think of the Henry VIII affair, in reality the relationship between the two heads-of-state-slash-heads-of-churches is quite cordial.

In a congratulatory note to Liz Truss, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said many people in the U.K. would be facing the choice between “heating and eating” this winter because of rampant inflation and soaring fuel bills.