Pope Francis Fumes Over EU Plans To Cancel Christmas

Pope Francis has attacked plans by the European Union, EU for ‘political correctness in the workplace that include banning the mention of Christmas and Christian names such as John and Mary.

Pope Francis, 84, warned that the plans by the EU to ‘take the path of ideological colonisation’ were leading the EU towards the path threaded by the Nazi dictatorship.

The pope’s claims came after the EU was accused of trying to ‘cancel Christmas’ upon a memo to EU bureaucrats to avoid the word Christmas and use ‘holiday period’ so as not to offend non-Christians.

The EU had published the rule months ago as part of a guide on ‘inclusive communication’, details of which leaked, sparking outrage. Other suggestions in the book included replacing Christian names such as Mary and John with ‘international’ names such as Malika and Julio when using them in generic examples, and swapping the word ‘man-made’ for ‘human-induced’.

Speaking on the plane while returning to the Vatican after a trip to Turkey, the pope said:

‘It is something that throughout history has not worked.

‘In history, many dictatorships have tried to do these things. I’m thinking of Napoleon, the Nazi dictatorship, the Communist one.’

‘The European Union… must be careful not to take the path of ideological colonisation. This could end up dividing countries and causing the EU to fail.

‘The European Union must respect each country’s internal structure, its variety and not try to make them uniform — I don’t think it will do that, it wasn’t its intention, but it must be careful, because sometimes they come and throw projects like this one out there.’

Last week’s EU document also told staff to ‘avoid assuming that everyone is Christian’ and that ‘not everyone celebrates the Christian holidays, and not all Christians celebrate them on the same dates’.

Instead of saying ‘Christmas time can be stressful’, staff were told to say ‘Holiday times can be stressful’, under the proposals that were attacked by Pope Francis.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, accused the EU of trying to ‘cancel our roots’ by ignoring – rather than respecting – Europe’s Christian heritage.

‘We know that Europe owes its existence and its identity to many influences, but we certainly cannot forget that one of the main influences, if not the main one, was Christianity itself,’ he told Vatican News.

Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s right-wing League party and former deputy Prime Minister, accused the EU of ‘folly’ by publishing the rules.

‘Mary, the mother. John, the father. Long live the holy Christmas … I hope that in Europe, no one will be offended,’ he tweeted.

Antonio Tajani, a former European Commissioner and ally of Silvio Berlusconi, also tweeted his criticism – suggesting the EU was waging war on ‘common sense’.

Later Brussels announced it was withdrawing the book, saying ‘the guidelines clearly require more work’.

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