Status report

My God- what a beautiful man we have in the Pope!

Read his address to the diplomatic corps, in which every current threat to human dignity is mentioned. After such a catalogue of woe, he shares this message:

"Diplomacy is, in a certain sense, the art of hope. It lives from hope and seeks to discern even its most tenuous signs. Diplomacy must give hope. The celebration of Christmas reminds us each year that, when God became a little child, Hope came to live in our world, in the heart of the human family. Today this certainty becomes a prayer: May God open the hearts of those who govern the family of peoples to the Hope that never disappoints! With these sentiments, I offer to each one of you my very best wishes, so that you, your staff, and the peoples you represent may be enlightened by the Grace and Peace which come to us from the Child of Bethlehem."

And what will the press say? "Pope reaffirms hatred of homosexuals"-- "Pope offends Muslims"-- "Pope condemns Chinese government"-- or some other nonsense.