These guests, a leading Catholic liberal and a leading Catholic conservative, had

been signed up before the announcement of Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, an encyclical which

had been criticized by, among others, Messrs. Buckley and Novak for being, as Mr.

Buckley puts it, "susceptible to the argument of moral equivalence; namely, that there are

not important moral differences between the two contending blocs pursuing a cold war." Here they have as a foil Father McBrien, who does not by any means agree with his Pope

on everything but does agree with him on this question. WFB: "[The Pope] said it is

insufferable that people should be suffering from a lack of food anywhere in the world,

while in the Midwest they are destroying food. Now I think it is insufferable morally, but

I know of no way to avoid that problem. I really don't." RM: "You know what you've

done, though? As a theologian I recognize what you've done, and I think it's absolutely

legitimate. You've just made a distinction between a moral principle and its application."