Mr. Giuliani, a former prosecutor, is hoping to appeal to the many Catholic conservatives among them on social issues.

A deeply Catholic conservative is a wholly different sort of phenomenon.

It follows that a deeply Catholic conservative is not the same as a secular liberal.

My point was that a deeply Catholic conservative is not the same thing as a deeply conservative Catholic.

Catholic conservatives have said the move would prevent potential pedophiles from entering the priesthood.

When the depth of the scandal became apparent this year, even Catholic conservatives criticized the bishops and called for increased lay participation in church decisions.

Some Catholic conservatives quickly declared that any questions about Judge Roberts's beliefs were utterly out of line.

Thus the Catholic conservatives believe the church to be a God-given institution which cannot in major ways have gone astray.

Catholic conservatives dispute those polls, saying they reflect the views only of nominal, not observant, Catholics.

For four years, the party has held weekly conference calls with a representative of the White House for prominent Catholic conservatives.