Verbatim.

"I think it's nuts, basically. They're sensationalizing something on the basis of virtually nothing."

--Father Donald Senior, C.P., a scripture scholar and president of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, on a Discovery Channel documentary about a tomb some claim belongs to Jesus (Chicago Sun-Times, Feb. 27, 2007)

"If they can't get slaves from Mexico, they want them from the jails."

--Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, on a Colorado program to replace illegal migrant agricultural workers with prison inmates (L.A. Times, March 1, 2007)

"I was sure the pope wouldn't have wanted my client to be punished."

--Jan Bockemuehl, the attorney for German journalist Hubertus Wiendl, who was fined for filming two men stealing water from the pope's home near Regensburg, Germany (Reuters, March 13, 2007)

"Everyone sees Benedict and thinks he's a sourpuss. But he's not."

--Catholic religious goods store manager Colin McQuade, on why Pope Benedict XVI merchandise isn't selling (Columbia News Service, March 17, 2007)

"A lot of people are fascinated by what a nun does on a daily basis, that a nun would talk about going for a bike ride or having a drink at a bar. I do have a couple bars I like."

--Blogging nun Sister Julie Vieira, I.H.M., on the popularity of her blog, "A Nun's Life," nuns2day.wordpress. com (Chicago Tribune, March 2, 2007)