{"id":23323,"date":"2013-12-25T19:22:17","date_gmt":"2013-12-26T00:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=23323"},"modified":"2013-12-26T22:43:45","modified_gmt":"2013-12-27T03:43:45","slug":"pope-franciss-first-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis’s First Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The German media take a lively interest in Pope Francis, and comparisons to his predecessor, their countryman Benedict, are inevitable. \u201cChristmas under Pope Francis: More Humility, Less Bling<\/a>,\u201d <\/span>Der Speigel<\/em> writes. \u201cThe higher-ups are disempowered, the state apartments are empty, velvet and silk stay in the closet \u2013 Pope Francis celebrates simply. Many in the ecclesiastical state long for the good old days.\u201d His spontaneity is feared at the papal court, and some wondered whether he would go after the Christmas Mass in the Night to give food to the poor at Sant\u2019 Egidio. (He didn\u2019t, as far as we know.)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pope Francis gives his first Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and Word”) blessing.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pageantry is out, Der Spiegel<\/em> notes. Velvet and silk regalia has seen its day, and now bishops and cardinals opt for a modest look, just like Bergoglio. Gold crosses stay in the cabinet. Iron, or silver at the best, is the order of the day. Feet must get used to cheap black shoes. One wouldn’t want to fall into disgrace.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pope Benedict giving the “Orbi et Orbi” blessing.<\/em><\/p>\n

Clerical clothiers in Rome are in mourning. In Benedict\u2019s day they had boom times \u2013pompously big mitres were the thing, and they could well cost $8,000 (6,000 euros). One needed a few of them, appropriate to various occasions. Now cheap is called for. Back when cardinals imitated Benedict, they put out as much as $25,000 (18,000 euros) for cardinals\u2019 get-up. Now, the tailors complain, clergymen limit themselves to $800 (600 euro) outfits. Pomposity is no longer in season. (Der Spiegel<\/em> doesn’t say so, but it is worth recalling that whatever his liturgical and sartorial tastes, Benedict XVI lived quite modestly.)<\/span><\/p>\n

A high-ranking prelate was caught waiting for his chauffeur, <\/span>Der Spiegel<\/em> claims, and Pope Francis scolded him, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go on foot?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

People in the Vatican speak of “papastroika<\/em>,” a play on Gorbachov\u2019s perestroika<\/em> (“restructuring”) that turned the Soviet Union upside down. Nothing seems impossible, everything is called into question.<\/span><\/p>\n

European ecclesiastics fear losing influence, according to Der Spiegel<\/em>. For Francis has a global church in view. Only a fourth of all Catholics live in Europe. Cologne may still well be the richest diocese in the Catholic world \u2013 but the Catholic future lies elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Pope Francis\u2019s approval ratings are sky high<\/a>, CNN reports. A CNN\/ORC poll just released found that 88% of American Catholics approve of Francis. And nearly three-fourths of\u00a0Americans in general view him favorably.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 85% of American Catholics say Francis is neither too liberal nor too conservative, and 86% say he’s in touch with the modern world. By comparison, more than half of American Catholics said Pope John Paul II was out of step with the times in 2003, near the end of his 26-year-long papacy, according to CNN .<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 85% of American Catholics say Francis is neither too liberal nor too conservative, and 86% say he’s in touch with the modern world. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2224],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pope-benedict-xvi","category-pope-francis"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Francis's First Christmas - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis's First Christmas - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than 85% of American Catholics say Francis is neither too liberal nor too conservative, and 86% say he's in touch with the modern world.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-26T00:22:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-12-27T03:43:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Francis-Christmas-urbi-et-orbi.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7fbf63ff85d447cf06b0588add3e41d2\"},\"headline\":\"Pope Francis’s First Christmas\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-26T00:22:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-27T03:43:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":472,\"commentCount\":27,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/Francis-Christmas-urbi-et-orbi.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Pope Benedict XVI\",\"Pope Francis\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/\",\"name\":\"Pope Francis's First Christmas - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/Francis-Christmas-urbi-et-orbi.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-26T00:22:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-27T03:43:45+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/Francis-Christmas-urbi-et-orbi.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/Francis-Christmas-urbi-et-orbi.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2013\\\/12\\\/25\\\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope Francis’s First Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit & Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7fbf63ff85d447cf06b0588add3e41d2\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"description\":\"Katharine E. Harmon, Ph.D., edits the blog, Pray Tell: Worship, Wit & Wisdom.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/editor\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope Francis's First Christmas - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope Francis's First Christmas - Home","og_description":"More than 85% of American Catholics say Francis is neither too liberal nor too conservative, and 86% say he's in touch with the modern world.","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2013-12-26T00:22:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-12-27T03:43:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Francis-Christmas-urbi-et-orbi.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7fbf63ff85d447cf06b0588add3e41d2"},"headline":"Pope Francis’s First Christmas","datePublished":"2013-12-26T00:22:17+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-27T03:43:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/"},"wordCount":472,"commentCount":27,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Francis-Christmas-urbi-et-orbi.jpg","articleSection":["Pope Benedict XVI","Pope Francis"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/","name":"Pope Francis's First Christmas - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Francis-Christmas-urbi-et-orbi.jpg","datePublished":"2013-12-26T00:22:17+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-27T03:43:45+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Francis-Christmas-urbi-et-orbi.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Francis-Christmas-urbi-et-orbi.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/25\/pope-franciss-first-christmas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pope Francis’s First Christmas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit & Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7fbf63ff85d447cf06b0588add3e41d2","name":"Editor","description":"Katharine E. Harmon, Ph.D., edits the blog, Pray Tell: Worship, Wit & Wisdom.","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23323"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23336,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23323\/revisions\/23336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}