Pope's Christmas message

[I can eat 50 eggs]

did any of you get to see/hear the Pope's Christmas service?

A couple of things caught my attention. 

1.  they had poinsettas all over the place, in st. Peters.  Wow, like that place isn't fancy enough.

2.  ONe thing that confused me was the Pope said something to the effect of when Jesus was born, only Mary knew who he was.  Did anyone else catch this?  do you think it was a translation error?

 

[Chris†opher Paul]

Who else (human) knew who Jesus was when He was born? I mean, I guess the three wise men had an idea that He was something special, but did they know He was the Christ?

 

[I can eat 50 eggs]

I thought Elizabeth, (and John) did

Mary Visits Elizabeth

39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

and Zechariah

76And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,


And Joseph

20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[3] because he will save his people from their sins."
22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"[4] --which means, "God with us."

and maybe Herod

3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ[3] was to be born

 

[Chris†opher Paul]

Oh, yep, you are right, Mary wasn't the only one. If the Pope did say that, he was wrong. *shrug*

 

[Bruno]

I thought he was unable to err when speaking ex cathedra... 

 

[Wolseley]

He wasn't speaking ex cathedra.

 

[Chris†opher Paul]

The pope is just a man, he can make mistakes, heh. The Holy Spirit won't let him make mistakes when declaring formal doctrine that is binding on all the faithful. Big difference.

 

[Bruno]

A serious mistake like that would show the entire world that he is unfamiliar with the Holy Bible.

 

[isshinwhat]

A serious mistake like that would show the entire world that he is unfamiliar with the Holy Bible.

Whew! Good thing we have Bruno, then. He never misspeaks!

 

[jukesk9]

Originally posted by Bruno
A serious mistake like that would show the entire world that he is unfamiliar with the Holy Bible.

Nevermind the fact that he's 82, suffering from Parkinson's and the translator could have had trouble understanding his low, mumbling voice..........

Ya know Issh, I say we pray for our non-Catholic brethren,

Hail Mary, full of Grace.  Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.  Amen.

Pray for us, both Catholic and Protestant, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.  Amen. 

 

[Wolseley]

Oh, sure.

A) From what I've read, nobody on this thread is quite sure what was said;

B) The Pope is past the age of 80, and who doesn't make slips like that now and then at that age?

But of course, because it's the Pope, we must never miss an opportunity to roll out the old canard that he is totally ignorant of the Bible---being Catholic, naturally---and therefore, by extension, so are all Catholics totally ignorant of the Bible, right, Bruno?

Take five. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

 

[Chris†opher Paul]

/hands leash to Wols

Hold me back man, hold me back...

The Pope is ignorant of the Bible? Now I have heard everything.

 

[I can eat 50 eggs]

sorry, didn't mean to cause a fuss....

 

[I can eat 50 eggs]

This got me thinking. The translator for the Pope has one rough job. No pressure there to get every single meaning translated correctly. Yikes.

 

[VOW]

To Eggs:

The Pope himself speaks a bunch of languages fluently, too. The man is amazing. God truly blessed the Catholic Church with Pope John Paul II.


Peace,
~VOW

 

[I can eat 50 eggs]

Yeah, I knew that, good thing too.  The guy is brilliant, Not to mentioned dedicated.

 

[jukesk9]

Originally posted by s0uljah
The Pope is ignorant of the Bible? 

As servants of potpourri, we 'posed to be ignernt of the Bible.

 

 

[pax]

The Holy Father's Urbi et Orbi message for Christmas 2002 can be found at:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/j.../documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_20021225_urbi_en.html . I was kind of disappointed I didn't get to see it broadcast live, but it really is a great message.  I didn't see anything that said Mary was the "only" one who knew.

 

[pax]

Actually, I just got done reading his homily for midnight Mass. The Holy Father did say this:

Who could imagine that this little human being is the "Son of the Most High" (Lk 1:32)? Only she, his Mother, knows the truth and guards its mystery.

On this night we too can "join" in her gaze and so recognize in this Child the human face of God. We too – the men and women of the third millennium – are able to encounter Christ and to gaze upon him through the eyes of Mary.

When you said Christmas message I was thinking of his Christmas day Urbi et Orbi address, not his midnight Mass homily. I think the Holy Father meant that on the first Christmas eve when the Blessed Mother was looking at Christ Child who else knew he was the Son of God? Elizabeth knew the child was special, and so did John the Baptist. Let's not forget Simeon at the presentation in the temple. Of all those, only Mary was the only one in that manger on the first Christmas. Only she was told he was the Son of God. The rest knew he was special, but not how special.

 

[seebs]

Originally posted by I can eat 50 eggs

2.  ONe thing that confused me was the Pope said something to the effect of when Jesus was born, only Mary knew who he was.  Did anyone else catch this?  do you think it was a translation error?

Well, who else was there who knew? I don't know if she told Joseph. If the animals in the manger knew, they never told anyone.

I am sort of assuming an implicit "of those present at the time". (And God, as always, doesn't count; language would be unusable if we *always* carefully mentioned that exception. "Well, if you don't tell anyone, how is anyone but God supposed to know?" is not idiomatic in English.)