Newt Gingrich Becomes a Catholic, Thus Complicating His Next Divorce

Newt Gingrich is always up for a challenge. In 1994, he undertook an ambitious plan to shrink and restructure the United States government, resulting in the famous "Contract With America." Four years later, he had to figure out a way to lead the impeachment of then-president Bill Clinton for having an affair with an intern while simultaneously carrying on an affair of his own. He succeeded handily.

Now comes his latest hurdle: Gingrich became a Catholic over the weekend, which runs at great odds with his number one hobby-- getting divorced.

Will it work? Chris Buckley, for one, is skeptical...

The much-married Newt Gingrich converts to Catholicism this weekend-and I'd pay a year's salary to have been a bug on the wall during his religious instruction...

Mr. Gingrich's marital history is a matter of public record, and it is not tidy. He first married at age 19, to his 26-year-old former high-school geometry teacher and then, so the story goes, presented her with divorce terms after she was wheeled out of cancer surgery.

Mrs. Gingrich #2 was dumped after her husband had carried on an extramarital affair with a fetching, blond congressional staffer named Callista Bisek, who went on to become the present Mrs. Gingrich #3. This Family Values paradigm was complicated by the fact that whilst Mr. Gingrich was filibustering Ms. Bisek over the Speaker's desk, he was simultaneously leading the impeachment charge against a naughty president of the United States.

Although Gingrich claims he converted to worship alongside his wife-of-the-moment, the aforementioned Callista, we can't help but wonder if this conversion is about improving his 2012 presidential prospects with the largest religious demographic in our country. (Hey, it worked for Sam Brownback. Oh, wait.)

Well give Gingrich this: By converting to Catholicism, he might have exposed the one single thing his top challenger Mitt Romney won't say or do to be elected president ahead of him.