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E.J. Dionne: The pope did something this president never will. Apologize.

Washington • A news interlude dominated by speculation about “golden showers” and a graceless president who described his latest detractor as an “untruthful slime ball” invites us to search for higher moral ground.

So it might be Providential that Pope Francis chose to make news last week in two ways. First, he did something that comes very hard to most public figures, and particularly to the current occupant of the White House: He apologized fervently for “grave errors.”

He also issued a remarkable document on holiness that seemed made for the moment — and, by the way, noted that we can “waste precious time” by being caught up in “superficial information” and “instant communication.