Most people are relieved that the transfer of power went off without a hitch. The overarching need to deal with the pandemic is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and Joe Biden’s promise to deliver 100 million does of the vaccine in his first 100 days in office is being widely hailed as an ambitious but still achievable goal. In the circumstances, other matters have taken a back seat. Biden is a sincere Catholic and his recent attendance at church has been duly noted, though some of his executive orders are not what the Vatican would have prescribed. He has rescinded the restrictions on abortion that the previous administration introduced and has appointed homosexual and transgender people to prominent positions. He has also removed the bar to transgendered soldiers serving in the armed forces. It is hard to say what practical effect things like that will have, and for the moment few people are talking openly about them. Whether they are the tip of a looming iceberg of radical reform, or simply a nod to left-wing lobbies that will soon be disappointed in their deeper aims, remains to be seen.