{"id":1044173,"date":"2021-11-22T12:44:20","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T17:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1044173"},"modified":"2021-11-22T12:44:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T17:44:23","slug":"pope-francis-christmas-is-not-alienating-it-expands-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pope-francis-christmas-is-not-alienating-it-expands-the-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis: Christmas Is \u2018Not Alienating\u2019; It \u2018Expands the Heart\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpope-francis-christmas-is-not-alienating-it-expands-the-heart%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1044173&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">ROME \u2014 The celebration of Christmas is not a cause for division but for unity, Pope Francis told organizers of Italy\u2019s annual \u201cChristmas Contest\u201d for young songwriters.<\/p>\n<p>The Christmas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christmascontest.it\/en\/\">Contest<\/a>, which encourages young people to create original tunes to be added to classic Christmas songs, \u201cgives voice to the young, inviting them to create new songs inspired by Christmas and its values,\u201d the pope <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/content\/francesco\/en\/speeches\/2021\/november\/documents\/20211122-christmas-contest.html\">said<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe beauty of Christmas shines through in the sharing of small gestures of genuine love,\u201d Francis said. \u201cIt is not alienating, it is not superficial, it is not evasive; on the contrary, it expands the heart, opening it up to gratuitousness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pontiff also praised the Global Compact on Education, which promotes the Christmas Contest, underscoring its mission \u201cto form mature individuals capable of overcoming division and antagonism, and to restore the fabric of relationships for the same of a more fraternal humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Achieving unity \u201ctakes courage,\u201d Francis said, \u201cand also creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cFor example, you have composed new Christmas songs and you have shared them for a greater project, a project that believes in beauty as a way of human growth, to dream together of a better world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair,\u201d Francis said, citing his predecessor, Saint Paul VI.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thank you, dear young people, artists and sportspeople, for not forgetting to be custodians of this beauty, that the Nativity of the Lord makes shine in every daily gesture of love, sharing and service,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7887007\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/The-Adoration-of-the-Christ-Child-nativity-painting-afp.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7887007\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/The-Adoration-of-the-Christ-Child-nativity-painting-afp.jpg\" alt=\"The Adoration of the Christ Child par Stomer (Stom), Matthias (ca.1600-after 1650). Oil on canvas, size : 127x163, ca 1640-1645, Palazzo Madama Torino \u00a9FineArtImages\/Leemage\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">FineArtImages\/Leemage<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In his address, the pope also recalled the special circumstances of this Christmas, as the world has not yet come out from under the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_15264852\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" readability=\"32\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Family-Christmas-tree-masks-ap.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15264852\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Family-Christmas-tree-masks-ap.jpg\" alt=\"Maurizio Di Giacobbe, left, and Glenda Grossi, right, place decorations on a Christmas tree, with their children from left, Tiziano, 4, Arianna, 9, and Flavio 10, in their house in the outskirts of Rome, Saturday Dec. 12, 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for families around the world managing work and home life with children kept home from school and after-school activities. For the Di Giacobbe family, the juggling is even more complicated since mom and dad are intensive care nurses in the same COVID-19 ward and spend their days tag-teaming shifts, trying to give their patients the level of personal care and attention they would give their own children. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI am happy to meet you, now at the threshold of Advent, the period that every year introduces us to Christmas and its Mystery,\u201d he said, in reference to the four-week preparatory period before Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis year too, its lights will be dimmed by the consequences of the pandemic, which still weighs heavily on our time,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the more reason why we are called to question ourselves and not to lose hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe feast of the Birth of Christ is not out of tune with the trial we are going through, because it is the quintessential feast of compassion, the feast of tenderness,\u201d he said. \u201cIts beauty is humble and full of human warmth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tdwilliamsrome?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" data-show-count=\"false\">Follow @tdwilliamsrome<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ROME \u2014 The celebration of Christmas is not a cause for division but for unity, Pope Francis told organizers of Italy\u2019s annual \u201cChristmas Contest\u201d for young songwriters. The Christmas Contest, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1044173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1044173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1044173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1044173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1044173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}