evidence: Lots of experts were surprised that "Catholic Ireland" voted in gay marriage. They haven't been paying attention. Last weekend, Ireland overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment legalizing same-sex marriage, the first country in the world to do so by popular vote. The reaction invariably included some degree of shock that a country about 85 percent Roman Catholic would embrace marriage equality. Well, the Irish Catholics aren't alone. Much to the Vatican's evident chagrin, majorities of Catholics all over the West support same-sex marriage, often at higher rates than other Christian denominations. In majority-Protestant Northern Ireland, the provincial Assembly has refused to join the rest of the United Kingdom in allowing same-sex marriage — most recently in January — and First Minister Peter Robinson recently agreed with his wife that homosexuality is "an abomination."