It’s one heckuva parenthetical aside buried in the NYT Magazine’s lengthy profile of Newt Gingrich. But here it is, in its entirety:

(A Baptist since graduate school, Gingrich said he will soon convert to Catholicism, his wife’s faith.)

Wow. I’d like to know more–though it seems, according to the American Papist last November (guess I was busy with other things), word is Newt will be an Easter convert. It’s interesting of course that we’d have yet another conservative politician and/or evangelical-style Protestant going Roman. And interesting that these converts are in many respects becoming the face of public Catholicism, of a conservative bent.

So, Newt, how come? Gingrich has never struck many as the religious type, and he has many unsavory episodes in his life, some of which the graf preceding the conversion remark alludes to:

At a moment when the role of religious fundamentalism in the party is a central question for reformers, Gingrich, rather than making any kind of case for a new enlightenment, has in fact gone to great lengths to placate Christian conservatives. The family-values crowd has never completely embraced Newt, probably because he has been married three times, most recently to a former Hill staff member, Callista Bisek. In 2006, though, Gingrich wrote a book called “Rediscovering God in America” — part of a new canon of work he has done reaffirming the role of religion in public life. The following year, he went on radio with the evangelical minister James Dobson to apologize for having been unfaithful to his second wife.

Hey, there’s no free lunch except grace. But as I said, I’d like to know more about the man vying with Rush Limbaugh (and poor Michael Steele) to lead the GOP out of the wilderness.