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Pope Francis: We Are All “Pagans, Sinners, and Foreigners”

By Cory Allen Heidelberger on 2017-12-25

Hey, what’s the Pope have to say this Christmas?

Oh, just that usual crazy Christian stuff about “revolutionary tenderness” toward all of our fellow pagans, sinners, and foreigners”:

Pope Francis embraces abandoned children—photo by Paul Allyson Quiambao, 2015.
Pope Francis embraces abandoned children—photo by Paul Allyson Quiambao, 2015.

…So many other footsteps are hidden in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary. We see the tracks of entire families forced to set out in our own day. We see the tracks of millions of persons who do not choose to go away but, driven from their land, leave behind their dear ones. In many cases this departure is filled with hope, hope for the future; yet for many others this departure can only have one name: survival. Surviving the Herods of today, who, to impose their power and increase their wealth, see no problem in shedding innocent blood.

Mary and Joseph, for whom there was no room, are the first to embrace the One who comes to give all of us our document of citizenship. The One who in his poverty and humility proclaims and shows that true power and authentic freedom are shown in honouring and assisting the weak and the frail.

That night, the One who had no place to be born is proclaimed to those who had no place at the table or in the streets of the city. The shepherds are the first to hear this Good News. By reason of their work, they were men and women forced to live on the edges of society. Their state of life, and the places they had to stay, prevented them from observing all the ritual prescriptions of religious purification; as a result, they were considered unclean. Their skin, their clothing, their smell, their way of speaking, their origin, all betrayed them. Everything about them generated mistrust. They were men and women to be kept at a distance, to be feared. They were considered pagans among the believers, sinners among the just, foreigners among the citizens. Yet to them – pagans, sinners and foreigners – the angel says: “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Lk 2:10-11).

This is the joy that we tonight are called to share, to celebrate and to proclaim. The joy with which God, in his infinite mercy, has embraced us pagans, sinners and foreigners, and demands that we do the same…. [Pope Francis, homily for midnight mass, Vatican Basilica, 2017.12.24].

Christmas and Christianity are about a lot more than shouting two words. Enjoy your holiday with the pagans, sinners, and foreigners you love.

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14 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2017-12-25 09:37

    Pope Francis: We Are All “Pagans, Sinners, and Foreigners”

    Pretty much nailed wingnuts with his opening salvo. I didn’t catch what he had to say about good Libs and Progressives. Must be saving that pep talk for another day.

  3. Roger Cornelius 2017-12-25 15:12

    “Surviving the Herods of today, who, to impose their wealth, see no problem in shedding innocent blood”.
    The Pope seems to be taking direct aim at Trump and the 1% and rightly so.
    The innocent blood that will be shed will be when Robert Mueller backs a defenseless Trump to the wall with Trump starting a war in the Middle East, North Korea, or elsewhere to distract from the inevitable.

  4. grudznick 2017-12-25 15:49

    BAH on Christmas. Eat food, kill trees, throw away vast quantities of garbage generated by the holiday of gluttony.

  5. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-12-25 17:03

    Hey, Grudz, if more people went out to the Black Hills and cut their own Christmas trees, they might help mitigate forest fires.

    I think Pope Francis is trying to remind us amidst our gluttony that we have wealth to spare for our immigrant friends.

  6. jerry 2017-12-25 17:13

    Happy Holidays to all!!!!

  7. mike from iowa 2017-12-25 17:24

    In the spirit of the holidays, a power company sent a lady in Erie, Pa an electric bill for the ages. 284 billions and change and gave her until next November to pay it.

    Of course it was a slight mathematical error, but from what I have seen from the present administration, it would not surprise me to see the bill declared valid and allow the interest to accrue.

  8. Donald Pay 2017-12-25 17:24

    I’m tired of hearing about the fake Christian conservative snowflakes yammering on about War on Christmas, especially when these folks never bother to try to live up to the clear lessons of the Biblical story of Christmas. The self-proclaimed “five star general” of yammering about this issue (otherwise known as Bill O’Reilly) has a bit of a problem living up to the tenets of his faith. “Merry Fu**ing The Interns Christmas” is more what O’Reilly was all about. And Trump daily violates every lesson Jesus ever gave. Saying “Merry Christmas” for these conservative folks is all about putting on a facade that hides their anti-Jesus values.

    Trump and these conservatives, of course, would be the first to put Jesus on the cross should he, by some miracle, ride into Washington, DC, on a donkey today.

  9. Roger Cornelius 2017-12-25 17:55

    I join Donald Pay in his weariness over the lie called the war on Christmas.
    The saddest thing ever is that so many idiots believe there was a law saying Merry Christmas was illegal and that Trump somehow repealed it.
    Even with empirical evidence that President Obama said Merry Christmas repeatedly, the idiots think the former president led the charge on the war on Christmas.
    Truth to be to tell, President Obama and his family share the meaning of Christmas, as I know it, with true passion and faith.
    While previous presidents have visited the sick, veterans, military bases, etc. during Christmas, Trump sits on his fat ass in Florida pumping out hateful Tweets or ReTweets after another this Holiday Season.

  11. Roger Cornelius 2017-12-25 19:19

    Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin got a box of horse apples for Christmas.
    My Christmas will be complete if Trump gets a Christmas goose.

  12. jerry 2017-12-25 19:58

    mfi, one thing is for sure the roypublicans did not get their poster boy roy moore elected. I will take Jones any day of he week but the black folks must rise, like all folks of color, to defeat this radical agenda set forth by the elitist power brokers.

  13. grudznick 2017-12-25 20:04

    The Pope is calling out the witches. He is harking back to the days of yore.

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