Welcome to Wisdom Wednesday, our last before Christmas Day. We’ll be back again January 8! Quite a collection this week , suggesting that you skim over the topics and pick what piques your interest. There’s the disappeared keffiyeh at the Vatican, how Coca Cola was involved with Santa Claus in 1930 and Charlie Brown in the 1960s, Pelosi’s Communion ban, a bruised pope, cardinals in white — and dread for January 20 but with a few reasons to be of good cheer!
The missing keffiyeh
The appearance of a keffiyeh on a Palestinian-made nativity scene at the Vatican caused a stir. So did its sudden disappearance. From Religion News Service.
Pope Francis
Pope praises popular piety during his first-ever papal Mass in Corsica. Pope Francis became the first pope to travel to Corsica Dec. 15, and he praised the French island’s rich heritage of popular piety. From the USCCB.
Pope calls for end to foreign debt, death penalty ahead of Jubilee Year. In his World Peace Day message, Pope Francis urges nations to abolish the death penalty, forgive developing nations’ debts and allocate arms spending to fight hunger and climate change. These steps, he said, aim to foster hope and address systemic injustice. From the USCCB.
In secular France, the pope warns against reducing faith to ‘private affair’ — From National Catholic Reporter.
A bruised pope, new cardinals, two in white. The Vatican said the pope’s injuries occurred when the pontiff fell on Dec. 6 and hit his chin on his bedside table. The bruised Pope Francis tells 21 new cardinals: ‘Walk in the path of Jesus.’ Among those churchmen elevated to the Catholic Church’s most elite body that will elect the next pope, two had opted to forgo scarlet vestments and wear their simple white religious habits. From National Catholic Reporter.
Political values
OPINION Nationalism and religious hatred are as old as time, filmmakers say. Project 2025 is a further example of that brazenness. “It’s like we’ve known about these crazy ideas, but to see them just boldly putting them out there public — they are emboldened. We’re not just going to have the wolves in the hen house, we’re going to have wolves in charge of the hen house.” From Baptist News Global.
SURVEY PRRI survey finds ‘stark’ voter divides along religious lines. Race, religion and Christian nationalism were among the top influencers of presidential voting in the 2024 election, according to new polling by Public Religion Research Institute.
Michael Sean Winters: “In three previous columns in this Democratic autopsy series, I have discussed what Democrats need to discard, like their penchant for heresy hunting and their reliance on scientism and credentialism, and how they need to regain a balanced sense of history, humility and humor. All three columns dealt with the cultural baggage that weighed down the Democrats in recent election cycles.
Trump’s cabinet: A Huguenot? “If U.S. investor and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent is confirmed as President-elect Trump’s treasury secretary, he will be only the second openly gay cabinet secretary (after current secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg) and the first Senate-confirmed openly LGBTQ+ person to serve in a Republican administration in any capacity.” Also: If approved by the U.S., he would be the first active French Huguenot to serve in the cabinet in centuries — maybe ever.
Women in the Church
Bishop Stowe blessed 3 women in ceremony recognizing lay ministry roles. From NCR Online.
ANALYSIS After Trump win, many Catholic women are rethinking their relationship to the church. From NCR Online.
Pelosi and the pope
Nancy Pelosi’s Communion ban is to be resolved by Vatican. The former House speaker is challenging the archbishop of San Francisco’s 2022 order prohibiting her from receiving the Holy Eucharist. In her new book, Pelosi also reflects on death and judgment by the Lord: “if I tell Him that I have no wounds, my Creator will ask: Was nothing worth fighting for?”
NCR interview: Nancy Pelosi criticizes Pope Francis over China pact. The former speaker discusses loss of the Catholic vote, generational change in the Democratic Party
Interfaith dating
EXCERPT: “I don’t get it,” he says to me. “Why is it that anyone who writes ‘must love God’ is always Christian? I’m Jewish. I love God. Do these people think that only Christians love God? And since when does ‘must love God’ mean ‘must be a Christian – and of a particular kind and political persuasion’?” From Religion News Service.
Solidarity with migrants
California Catholic bishops mark solidarity with migrants on Guadalupe feast. A similar message from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops decried “racism” and “xenophobia”, though without naming politicians or parties. From Black Catholic Messenger and the California Catholic Bishops.
Has the Catholic Church truly learned hospitality?
OPINION Tamika Royes on the “Black exodus” and how to foster the welcome that all deserve in God’s house. “it is a sad reflection that Black Catholics will rarely see images of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as Black people. Likewise, they are not likely to see artwork of Black Catholics as part of other images or statues. This is an issue that can be rectified.” From Black Catholic Messenger.
January 20 hopes and fears
OPINION The next inauguration looms large on the horizon beyond Dec. 25. “Many people I know, including myself, are hoping against hope things won’t be as bad as we fear. That Trump’s retributive, hate-filled campaign rhetoric will amount to little more than words. . . . That our constitutional levies once again can contain the storm surge of his rapacious egotism, aggrieved impulsivity and authoritarian zeal. . . .When we pause to consider Gaza, Ukraine, Lebanon, Sudan — the world feels dark indeed. From Baptist News General
Call to support Today’s American Catholic
TAC editor Michael Centore has documented recent AUSCP Assemblies. If you want to support his efforts, here are some more reasons. “We are seeking to help bring about the church as it aspires to be in the Synod’s final document: “a network of relationships which prophetically propagates and promotes a culture of encounter, social justice, inclusion of the marginalized, communion among peoples and care for the earth.”
‘Nine Commandments’ for sale
Today (Dec. 18) Sotheby’s will auction the oldest inscribed stone tablet of the Ten Commandments. This tablet has only nine of the ten commandments mentioned in the Book of Exodus — it’s missing, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.” It is approximately 1,500 years old. It was unearthed in 1913 during railroad excavations but its significance was unrecognized for decades. It was even used as part of the entrance to a local home. The tablet’s text is worn where people walked across it, a Sotheby’s specialist told The New York Times.
Light and bright
Religious traditions can help with holiday blues, mental health experts say. ‘During the holidays, we are practicing relational spirituality and engaging in our awakened brain,’ said one professor of psychology.
“As a linguist who studies the social and historical paths that deliver the words we use, the season’s festive lights and boughs of holly inspired a deep dive into Santa’s past to uncover what name we should really be using for the man in red.” And what did he wear in 1930?
Why ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ almost didn’t air − and why it endures. “It’s the true story of an unassuming comic strip character who crossed over into television and managed to voice hefty, thought-provoking ideas – without getting booted off the air. . . . It’s what happened when Coca-Cola wanted to sponsor an animated Christmas special.
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