Readers with an interest in religion (like you!) should be grateful to blogger Andrew Sullivan for his extensive and passionate treatment of the topic. But gratitude doesn’t preclude a demand for accuracy.

In a Christmas Eve post on some recent, controversial words of Benedict XVI, Sullivan makes much of the pope’s failure to mention the Second Vatican Council in “his summary of the recent history of the Church.” This is supposed to show “what a reactionary [Benedict] is.”

Now, Benedict’s attitude toward Vatican II is a matter of wide debate. But the speech in question, as should be clear to anyone who reads it, is not intended as a summary of recent church history. It’s plainly structured as a look back at 2008, including the major anniversaries observed this year.

That’s why Benedict recalls the election of John XXIII and the death of Paul VI-the two popes of Vatican II-which occurred 50 and 30 years ago. On the other hand, nowhere in his 3,500-word speech does Benedict mention his predecessor John Paul II, whom we can be sure he holds in no less esteem than the other two popes. Vatican II was called in 1959 and met from 1962 to 1965. No major anniversary associated with the council fell during 2008.

Papal documents are often circumlocutious and invite reading between the lines. But first you need to read the lines themselves.