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Zenit has published the full English translation of the Holy Father's interview with "Credere" in which he talks about his hopes for the year of mercy. Looks like Fridays are going to be big news days for us in the religious press corps. The money quote:
To discover it will lead us to have a more tolerant, more patient, more tender attitude. In 1994, during the Synod, in a meeting of groups. it was said that a revolution of tenderness should be established, and a Synodal Father -- a good man, whom I respect and love – then very elderly, said that it wasn’t appropriate to use this language and he gave me reasonable explanations, from an intelligent man, but I continue to say that today the revolution is that of tenderness because justice stems from here as does all the rest. If a businessman who takes on an employee from September to July, says to him, <to take his leave for vacation in July, to then take up his work again> with a new contract from September to July, thus the worker has no right to identity, or to a pension, or to social security. He has no right to anything. The businessman doesn’t show tenderness, but treats the employee as an object – so much to give an example of where there is no tenderness. If one puts oneself in the shoes of that person, instead of thinking of one’s need for a bit more money, then things change. The revolution of tenderness is what we have to cultivate today as the fruit of this Year of Mercy: God’s tenderness towards each one of us. Each one of us must say: “I am an unfortunate man, but God loves me thus, so I must also love others in the same way.”
At RNS, Mark Silk reminds us that when President Obama recalled the persecutions and conflicts wrought by Christians, all hell broke loose, but that Pope Francis just did exactly the same thing.
In the LATimes, John-Clark Levin on Democrats, Jimmy Carter, and the importance of public religiosity.
I have avoided my annual rant against the war on Advent. I am daily disgusted that so many houses already have up their Christmas lights and even their Christmas trees! But, we must resist and what better way to resist than listening to some of the beautiful music of Advent. Last year, I ran a different piece every day of the season. This year, I will not be so thorough but will, when the Spirit moves me, feature a favorite. This is my all-time favorite Advent hymn (which would also make a good entrance hymn at the installation of a new bishop!):
