In October, I wrote about dying languages–languages whose use is declining–and why they are worth saving. In today’s New York Times, there was a small article on Syrian villages where Aramaic, the language probably spoken by Jesus, is still used, but by increasingly fewer people. Part of it is the usual story of children not learning the language of their parents, but another part is due to the general decline of Christianity in the Middle East. If you’re interested in matters linguistic, give the article a read.

That’s the title of a recent article in MercatorNet by Maggie Gallagher. Gallagher, the President of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, is quite simply the most effective spokesperson making public arguments in defense of marriage today. Not surprisingly, she’s also a First Things contributor.

In her article, Gallagher describes a new report she has just released:

A new analysis carried out by myself and Joshua Baker entitled Pope Benedict XVI on Marriage: A Compendium and published by the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy on the eve of Benedict’s historic U.S. visit, finds that in less than three years of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has spoken publicly about marriage on 111 occasions. His pronouncements connect marriage to such overarching themes as human rights, world peace, and the conversation between faith and reason.

Over and over again he has made it clear that the marriage and family debate is central — not peripheral — to understanding the human person, and defending our human dignity.

Her short article and the report are well worth reading.

A sensible word from the Wall Street Journal on the Pope and how his celebration of immigration is the right and Christian thing to do, in contrast to virulent rumblings from the some corners of the American political scene:

“You know the restrictionists have gone head-first into the fever swamps when they denounce a Christian religious leader for sounding like a Christian. The pope welcomes immigrants because he’s Catholic, not because they are. He isn’t ‘marketing’ his faith. He’s practicing it.”