Idiots. Political opportunists using Catholicism as a cudgel to beat in the brains of anyone serous about restraining out of control debt spending.

Rep. Paul Ryan has been taking flak from church groups – including the relatively conservative U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the somewhat more liberal group Nuns on the Bus—because his budget could cut money from programs for the poor and elderly.

Now a group of fellow Catholics from his home state of Wisconsin, including some Franciscan Friars, are calling for the vice presidential hopeful’s “conversion.” The group launched a website, PrayforPaulsChangeofHeart.org, that asks visitors to “Please pray for Paul Ryan, a devout Catholic, to have a change of heart on the federal budget.” It includes a special Rosary prayer to St. Paul, “the great convert,” to bring about a transformation in the anti-deficit Republican.

Pray for Paul Ryan, because God loves deficits.

*subhead*Political opportunists.*subhead*