In a speech Pope Francis delivered recently at St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, he said that Christmas this year will be a "charade" because the “world continues to wage war” and “we do not understand peace.” It is difficult to argue against the obvious facts of continuing war in the Middle East and other places and our inability as a race to understand and practice peace but it is untimely and untrue to demean Christmas as a false event represented as true, which is pretty close to the meaning of charade. I would argue the opposite. If ever a dark world needed a glimpse of light that light is in the wonderful message of Christmas.
