“I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.”

Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in a September 1960 campaign speech to a group of Protestant ministers.

“I am proud to stand here as a public representative, as a Taoiseach who happens to be a Catholic, but not a Catholic Taoiseach.”

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny in a June 12 speech to the Dáil, or parliament, regarding his sponsorship of a proposed law changing Ireland’s abortion law.