In a letter to Christians in the Middle East, Pope Francis wrote: “I write to you just before Christmas, knowing that for many of you the music of your Christmas hymns will also be accompanied by tears and sighs.
“Dear brothers and sisters who courageously bear witness to Jesus in the land blessed by the Lord, our consolation and hope is Christ himself. The situation in which are you living is a powerful summons to holiness of life, as saints and martyrs of every Christian community have attested. I think with affection and veneration of the pastors and faithful killed often merely for the fact that they were Christians.
“The tragic situation faced by our Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq, as well as by the Yazidi and members of other religious and ethnic communities, demands that all religious leaders clearly speak out to condemn these crimes unanimously and unambiguously, and to denounce the practice of invoking religion in order to justify them.”
Roman Curia outdated, schizophrenic – Pope
In a speech to the Roman Curia, the Pope said: “A Curia that is not self-critical, does not stay up-to-date, does not seek to better itself, is an ailing body. …It is the sickness of the rich fool who thinks he will live for all eternity, and of those who transform themselves into masters and believe themselves superior to others, rather than at their service.
“The ailment of rivalry and vainglory: when appearances, the colour of one’s robes, insignia and honours become the most important aim in life... is the disorder that leads us to become false men and women, living a false ‘mysticism’ and ‘quietism’.
“Then there is ‘existential schizophrenia the sickness of those who live a double life, fruit of the hypocrisy typical of the mediocre and the progressive spiritual emptiness that cannot be filled by degrees or academic honours.
“This ailment particularly afflicts those who, abandoning pastoral service, limit themselves to bureaucratic matters, losing contact with reality and with real people. They create a parallel world of their own, where they set aside everything they teach with severity to others and live a hidden, often dissolute life.”
Most US children not with married parents
Most children in the US do not live with their married parents and the majority are born out of marriage. This results from a new study by the Pew Research Centre.
According to the study, only 46 per cent of minors under 18 live with their married parents. This contrasts with the high figure of 73 per cent registered in 1960. Today, 41 per cent of the children under 18 were born outside of marriage (the figure was only five per cent in 1960).
About 15 per cent live with one parent who has divorced and remarried, four per cent are living with parents who are cohabiting but not married, and five per cent are not living with either parent (frequently with one or more grandparents).
Italian cardinal slams ‘cultural myopia’
The decision of the authorities to remove scenes of the nativity from schools and public places brought a strong reaction from Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Bagnasco told reporters that this decision is an act of “cultural myopia”.
The removal of religious symbolism, said Bagnasco, comes from “a distorted concept of respect and tolerance,” according to a report in the Italian bishops’ daily Avvenire.
The integration of different groups into society, he added, calls for “mutual knowledge, appreciation and understanding” of “signs, symbols, traditions”.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)