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| A light moment as Pope and allies plot to kidnap Santa and take him to Halloweenland |
In that case, of course, Christmas has always been a charade.
Perhaps that's what he means.
Full disclosure: Due to the continued prevalence of youth unemployment, my family hasn't celebrated Christmas for years. Instead, we sit around the dining room table, eating hard bread and reciting passages from La Repubblica.
Full disclosure: Due to the continued prevalence of youth unemployment, my family hasn't celebrated Christmas for years. Instead, we sit around the dining room table, eating hard bread and reciting passages from La Repubblica.
Vatican City (AFP) - Christmas festivities will seem empty in a world which has chosen "war and hate", Pope Francis said Thursday.
"Christmas is approaching: there will be lights, parties, Christmas trees and nativity scenes ... it's all a charade.* The world continues to go to war. The world has not chosen a peaceful path," he said in a sermon.
"There are wars today everywhere, and hate," he said after the worst terror attack in French history, the bombing of a Russian airliner, a double suicide bombing in Lebanon, and a series of other deadly strikes.
"We should ask for the grace to weep for this world, which does not recognise the path to peace. To weep for those who live for war and have the cynicism to deny it," the Argentine pontiff said, adding: "God weeps, Jesus weeps".
The sermon threw a shadow over the start of the festive season at the Vatican, where a giant Christmas tree was unveiled.
The 25-metre (82-foot) high pine hails from former pope Benedict XVI's homeland, the German state of Bavaria.
The tree, which will be decorated in time for the start of the Vatican's Holy Year on December 8, will be festooned with ornaments made by children from cancer wards in hospitals across Italy.
This year's nativity scene will be made up of 24 life-size figures, sculpted from wood and hand-painted.
In a nod to Pope Francis's humble style, alongside the figures from the story of Jesus's birth will be sculptures of ordinary people, including a man supporting an elderly person in need.
I love the line, "The sermon threw a shadow over the start of the festive season at the Vatican."
On the bright side, after 2,000 years, ordinary people have finally been allowed a presence in the creche.
*It should be noted that the English excerpts posted on the official Vatican Radio do not include the word "charade". Whether this is due to embarrassment or a different interpretation of the Italian is unclear.
On the bright side, after 2,000 years, ordinary people have finally been allowed a presence in the creche.
*It should be noted that the English excerpts posted on the official Vatican Radio do not include the word "charade". Whether this is due to embarrassment or a different interpretation of the Italian is unclear.
oh my word. He sounds depressed. I mean, we all are, but shouldn't he at least try to sound encouraging? Does the man not realize that millions of Catholics (fewer each day) look to him for comfort in this time of violence and brutality?
ReplyDeleteAnd he is apparently not capable of saying WHO is committing the acts of war and brutality. Guess it's us Catholics. Yup. We're always going around and starting up wars. I started one just the other day at the supermarket, when I suggested the baked goods were stale.
Yeah, and now you're probably making a Crusade out of it. :) I think more and more people (including higher-ups in the Church) think Bergoglio is just losing it.
DeleteBERGOGLIO - FALSE POPE - FALSE PROPHET http://biblefalseprophet.com/
DeleteI thought this was satire.....
ReplyDeleteIf only.
DeletePerhaps a review of the 1914 Christmas truce on the western front may be appropriate to discuss. It seemed the exact opposite of a charade when reading the stories of the men at war.
ReplyDelete