Of course, those "ties," the "ecumenism of division," started already during the Reagan administration. One clear Catholic sign of that was in the spring of the election year 1984, when Geraldine Ferraro had expressed solidarity with a group calling for abortion rights, and answered a reporter saying (quite rightly) that Catholics have different ideas regarding abortion; and then, John O'Connor, recently created Archbishop of New York by JPII, slammed her at a press conference, saying, "No!, Catholics believe one and only one thing about abortion!"

You are probably too young to remember. : )