UNITED STATES
Clarion-Ledger
Chicago Tribune
December 24, 2014
In holiday messages at this time of year, the boss usually musters the energy to say nice things to the people who work for him. Even if he’s exasperated by the performance of his employees or beset by arrogant bullies on the corporate rungs above him.
That’s the generosity of the Christmas spirit, right?
But what if the boss used this holiday interlude not to extol the good but to point out in withering detail his subordinates’ personal shortcomings?
And what if that message resonated well beyond the boss’ workplace, so that all of us could read his remarks and, gulp, see ourselves in the unflinching mirror that he held aloft?
You may have guessed that we’re talking about Pope Francis’ extraordinary Christmas message on Monday.
Instead of a traditional message of charity and hope, Francis excoriated the cardinals, bishops and priests who run the Vatican. He accused them of knuckling under to 15 ailments and temptations, including greed, jealousy, hypocrisy, cowardice and, in a memorable phrase, “spiritual Alzheimer’s.”
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