The European Union’s attempt to replace the term “Christmas period” with a more-neutral “holiday period,” is a move that some oppressive regime might well have made, Pope Francis has said, denouncing the move.
Pope Francis minced no words decrying what he saw as an ill-advised, anachronistic idea, during a flight home from Cyprus and Greece, likening the bloc with many dictatorships in history that have tried to do so, including the Nazi dictatorship.
The pontiff warned the EU against taking the path of ideological colonization that, according to him, would only cause division among its members and might eventually lead to a fall of the entire bloc.
He advised the bloc to respect each country as it is structured within without attempting to make them uniform, urging it to take in hand the ideals of the founding fathers, which were ideals of unity and of greatness.
The European Commission made a U-turn last week on its language replacement after a public backlash, including from the Vatican, provoked by the guidebook on inclusive communications – titled Union of equality – advising EU bureaucrats how to make their messaging more accommodating to minority groups.
The document, championed by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, asked officials to avoid assuming that everyone is Christian and sentences such as “Christmas time can be stressful” and instead use “Holiday times can be stressful.”
It also advised them not to use the phrase “Christian names” and to use first name or forename instead, not to use names that are typically from one religion, suggesting “Malika and Julio” instead of “Maria and John” to describe an international couple.
The suggestions triggered outrage among more conservative people, including many prominent public figures, with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, calling the EU document an attempt to “cancel our roots and the Christian dimension of our Europe”.
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