Italy bishop tells children Santa doesn't exist

[left-of-center2012]

A Roman Catholic diocese in Sicily publicly apologized to outraged parents after its bishop told a group of children that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. In a Facebook post and subsequent comments Friday, the diocese of Noto insisted that Bishop Antonio Stagliano didn’t mean to dash the dreams of the youngsters two weeks before Christmas.

The diocesan communications director, the Rev. Alessandro Paolino, said Stagliano was trying to underline the true meaning of Christmas and the story of St. Nicholas, a bishop who gave gifts to the poor and was persecuted by a Roman emperor. Italian news reports quoted Stagliano as saying during a recent religious festival that
Santa doesn’t exist and that his red costume was created by the Coca-Cola company for publicity.

“First of all, on behalf of the bishop, I express my sorrow for this declaration which has created disappointment in the little ones, and want to specify that Monsignor Stagliano‘s intentions were quite different,” Paolino wrote on the diocesan Facebook page.

“We certainly must not demolish the imagination of children, but draw good examples from it that are positive for life,” he continued. “So Santa Claus is an effective image to convey the importance of giving, generosity, sharing. But when this image loses its meaning,
you see Santa Claus aka consumerism, the desire to own, buy, buy and buy again, then you have to revalue it by giving it a new meaning.”

https://apnews.com/article/oddities-business-lifestyle-sicily-italy-793fc5902c3d4e203bb97ae873f94278

[Siwsan]

1. A priest at the parish my parents belong to did that, one year

It didn't go over well with the parishioners.

[bearsfootball516]

6. Same thing in my old parish

[Caliman73]

2. Keep going Bishop Stagliano...

What other mythical beings were made up, with stories written 10's if not 100's of years after the supposed actions of that being's life and put together for the purpose of consolidating power?

You almost have it...

[jimfields33]

3. I don't know.

The Bible was written by real people who witnessed the different scenarios in the book. I think most of the Bible is accurate.

[brooklynite]

5. As soon as you move from "all" to "most".....

....you then have to answer the question of "which parts aren't accurate, and why those"?

[jimfields33]

7. Good point.

I mean it hard to believe Genesis could be accurate. Who wrote down that God made the world In 7 days even before Adam and Eve were mentioned.

[LiberatedUSA]

14. I would say before you start with the accuracy of the Bible...

…you need to ask yourself, if what it is based on is real. Is there an invisible, magical being in the sky, that physics can’t quantify, and sometimes grants wishes depending on his mood. Is he real? And if he is, why is he a homicidal, genocidal maniac in half the Bible, breaking his commandment of Thou Shall Not Kill like it was a bodily function?

You should also ask yourself if this God is just a concept of a Human mind. Does he show any human qualities, as opposed to being a perfect being? Like maybe the story of the big evil fiery meanie goading god into murdering Job’s entire family (cause of the homicidal mania this God has), his extended family, friends and even his goddamn livestock; cause fuck him. He does all this so when Job gets on his knees and takes it, he can say to the big red bastard “told ya so”.

Does that sound like a perfect being to you or something some dude named Randy came up with?

Or the 10 Commandments. I don’t know about you, but I can think of a better list to guide all of humanity than this “perfect being”. Or Randy.

[Maru Kitteh]

12. I want to thank you for one of the funniest things I've read

In at least a week or so.

[Haggard Celine]

4. I never believed in Santa Claus.

My dad must have told me there was no such thing. He hates the Santa stuff. He always wanted all the credit for buying the presents, which is understandable, I suppose. Give thanks to the people who gave you the gifts, not someone imaginary. It didn't hurt me to not believe in Santa. I wouldn't tell someone else's children that Santa doesn't exist, however. That's for the parents to decide.

[AZProgressive]

8. God always felt like Santa Claus to me

I never believed in Santa Claus and religion didn’t work on me either growing up.

[Hortensis]

9. Anyone know if this bishop is seen as liberal or conservative?

I didn't find anything except that he once called out Pokemon as "diabolical," seeming to think it inculcated totalitarian attitudes and mentioning Nazism. That didn't go over well, either, and objection to Nazis suggests not one of their hard-core RWers.

Unfortunately, it's too much to hope that conservative American bishops would come out against Santa Claus. If only...

[NCjack]

10. Hey Faux Newz, the RCC is warring on Christmas.

[MagickMuffin]

11. My Sunday school teacher informed me @ 6yrs

From them on I equated Santa and God as one and the same.


After all they both are everywhere. They both see you when you're sleeping. They both know if you've been bad or good.


YEP, Santa God.

[kskiska]

13. Trump asks 7-year-old, 'Are you still a believer in Santa?'

CNN
—
At what age do children wonder whether Santa really exists?

President Donald Trump would like to know.

In a Christmas Eve call, Trump asked a 7-year-old named Collman Lloyd whether the child still believes in Santa Claus.

“Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at 7, it’s marginal, right?” Trump asked Collman.

Collman’s response, though inaudible to the press, left Trump with a chuckle and a smile.

The call came around 6:30 p.m. Monday as the President and first lady Melania Trump spoke on separate phones to children whose calls to NORAD had been patched through to the White House lines.

(snip)

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/25/politics/trump-santa-phone-call/index.html

[no_hypocrisy]

15. Same story more or less. Dateline 1977 Lynchburg, VA.

A student teacher hailing from Liberty Baptist College (now known as Liberty University) was a substitute teacher at a public elementary school around Christmas. Being replete with the "Good News" that Jerry Falwell had given him, he proceeded to tell his kindergarten class that Santa Claus didn't exist, BUT . . . . they had someone MUCH BETTER: Jesus Christ.

The kids had a mass nervous breakdown and parents protested vociferously. And Liberty Baptist College didn't send any of its education students to teach in public schools for a long while.

I got this story from a music teacher at the public school where it happened.