ROME, DEC. 21, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Societies in Europe are taking Christ out of Christmas, laments the Vatican's semiofficial newspaper.
In an article last Sunday in L'Osservatore Romano, journalist Mario Gabriele Giordano noted the widespread attacks on the Christian holiday. It noted that some retail stores no longer sell Nativity figurines.
"A misunderstood sense of modernity has trampled on sentiments and values," the article stated. It observed that "the old and loved wishes for a 'Merry Christmas' … are being dissolved into a generic 'Happy Holidays.'"
England in particular is witnessing a veritable "war on Christmas," the article said, citing a report in the British newspaper Sun. "It is a war that tends to do away with all Christmas traditions, not only through hypocritical reasons of contingent opportunity but also through formal and rigid prohibitions."
The L'Osservatore Romano article expressed perplexity over the disappearance of religious Christmas stamps issued by post offices. Such stamps now depict snowmen and reindeer, for instance. Gone are the magi and the star over Bethlehem.
Some people say this "war" is justified because of "the need not to offend the sensitivity of believers or followers of other religions, as if nonbelievers and followers of other religions appeared suddenly only this Christmas," noted L'Osservatore Romano.
Absurdity
The newspaper quoted Britain's Daily Express paper which stressed "the absurdity of wanting to do away with our most cherished traditions because of unfounded and irrational fears."
For its part, the Italian bishops' newspaper, Avvenire, in an article Dec. 17 by Carlo Cardia, entitled "An Impossible Eclipse: In the Symbols of Christmas Is the Universe," stated that such symbols "have spanned the centuries."
"When they appear every year in so many parts of the world, including non-Christian areas, a message is spread, addressed to families, to mothers and fathers, to boys and girls," the article stated. "And this message speaks of hope, hope for the future and the reality of goodness, of confidence in oneself and in others."
The Avvenire article said that the meaning of Christmas symbols is often debated, if not distorted.
"However, there has never been a moment of history in which these symbols have not returned to the light," it added. "Today we must be aware that every time an idol falls or a promise is broken, the symbol of Christmas is always there to speak to man's heart, to tell him that there is a greater hope that already now can change life and illuminate it with a truer light."
ZE06122120 - 2006-12-21
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-18509?l=english
Wary of the War on Christmas
L'Osservatore Romano Weighs In on a Trend
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