As far as I know, the Boston Archdiocese has not yet condemned Pope Leo XIV for his “divisive” and “political” stunt yesterday and for the way his actions jeopardized Christian devotion and the flaccid true meaninglessness of Christmas.
What Leo did, if you’re wondering, was what every pope does on the December 8 feast day in Advent: “Pope Leo XIV gets into Christmas spirit with prayer for peace at Spanish Steps.”
Leo offered a big bouquet of white roses and then a brief prayer at the foot of the statue. He recalled the millions of people who have come to Rome this year on a Holy Year pilgrimage that brought them to the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.
“After the Holy Doors, may other doors now open to homes and oases of peace where dignity can flourish once more, where nonviolence can be taught, and the art of reconciliation can be learned,” he said.
On the one hand, this is a fairly milquetoast prayer. Open doors, dignity for all, nonviolence, reconciliation, etc. Normally, that might seem kind of blandly unobjectionable — a generic, lowest-common-denominator plea for vague, platitudinous niceness.
But this is 2025 and “normally” is a long way from here.
In 2025, a prayer like that one entails taking sides. Because in 2025, Leo’s church and the country of his birth are besieged by a political and politicizing ruling spirit that adamantly opposes open doors, dignity for all, oases of peace, and reconciliation.
When the Powers That Be openly advocated for division, then any talk of peace, unity, and reconciliation stands in opposition to those Powers That Be. And thus any call for open doors and reconciliation becomes, in a sense, “divisive” — it constitutes a taking of sides and a demand that others choose a side.
When even the most basic, generic prayers and principles of your religion are denied, denounced, and opposed by the Powers That Be, those basic, generic prayers and principles become “political.”
Pope Leo seems to understand this. The timid and dim bigwigs at the Archdiocese of Boston do not.
The cowardly “leaders” of the Archdiocese of Boston do not seem to understand much of anything. Not those basic prayers and principles, not the context they are now in, and not even the basics of the Christmas story.
We know this about the office of the archdiocese because it’s not true for every church in that archdiocese. Some of the parishes still agree with the pope and with the heavenly host singing “Peace on earth, good will to all.”
Consider, for example, the parishioners of the Dedham, Massachusetts, Catholic church who, like Leo, got into the Christmas spirit by choosing the side of open doors, dignity, and reconciliation, setting up this Nativity Scene in front of their church:
That’s from this story, “ICE Nativity scenes: Churches reimagine Christmas story amid deportations,” which describes the scene here:
Amid rising faith-based pushback to Trump’s mass-deportation campaign, religious leaders say they are hoping to make the Christmas story relevant to modern believers by recalling the dire circumstances faced by Jesus and his parents as recounted in the gospels.
Churchgoers at Saint Susanna Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, recently erected a similar immigration-themed Nativity just outside their building. The display includes traditional depictions of the magi, stable animals and other figures, but the banner above reads “Peace on Earth?” And propped up in the center of the arrangement, where Mary, Joseph and Jesus would normally appear, sits a sign that reads: “ICE was here.”
The sign, in smaller font, notes that “the Holy Family is safe inside The Sanctuary of Our Church.” But it goes on to encourage viewers to call a local immigration justice hotline if they see ICE officers.
The Rev. Steve Josoma, the priest at Saint Susanna, said he understands some people would rather have “a nice little place for baby Jesus and his family to celebrate Christmas” and “leave it at that.” But he argued religious art should engage the viewer.
“It’s not supposed to be something that you look at and admire,” he said. “It’s supposed to challenge you, to move you, to help you see things differently, to maybe force some questions that you know need to be answered.”
This is wicked good. Fr. Josoma and his parishioners understand the Nativity story and that it necessarily “forces some questions” about open doors, dignity, reconciliation, etc. The question mark they’ve added to “Peace on Earth?” is an acknowledgement that “Peace on earth, good will to all people” is an unavoidably political statement in a community and a nation that is dominated by a political party that officially and violently opposes that.
“Peace on earth, good will to all” is the same thing Christians have been reciting every year at Christmastime for centuries, but those Christians can’t say it this year without being — correctly — perceived as “political” and “anti-Trump” and “anti-ICE” and “anti-MAGA,” because “peace and good will to all” is the opposite of everything that Trump and ICE and MAGA stand for.
In this context, Christmas is impossible to do without it being “political” and “divisive.”
Even if you try to avoid “politics” by just getting more church-y and Christmas-y you won’t succeed. You could try to change the subject by, say, arguing that St. Susanna shouldn’t be including the wise men in their Nativity Scene this early in Advent. That sounds like one of those church-y arguments that might “normally” have been possible to have without it getting “political.”
But that won’t work, because you bring up the wise men and now you’re talking about Herod and the slaughter of the innocents and the flight to Egypt and the fact that the Holy Family were, themselves, refugees … and, oops, you’ve just reinforced the point that it’s impossible to mention any part of this story in our current context without “divisively” taking sides and being “political.”
I keep using those words — “political” and “divisive” — and putting them in quotes because I’m quoting them from Fr. Josoma’s alleged superiors in the Archdiocese of Boston. I’m quoting from the language those clueless, Herod-coddling igits used in ordering St. Susanna to take down its Nativity Scene and replace it with one that is “devotional” and not “political”: “Boston Archdiocese wants ICE message gone from parish’s outdoor Nativity scene.”
The archdiocese’s edict is so dumb, illiterate, anti-Christian and anti-Christmas that I’m thinking of re-watching Spotlight just to remind myself that I shouldn’t be surprised how wicked (and not in the laudatory, Bostonian sense) the Massholes in that office are capable of being.
Calling it a “politically divisive display,” the Boston Archdiocese has asked a local suburban parish to remove a Nativity scene that substitutes images of the Holy Family with a sign criticizing the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. …
A spokesman for the Boston Archdiocese said that the parish manger scene should be removed and the manger restored “to its proper sacred purpose.”
“The people of God have the right to expect that, when they come to church, they will encounter genuine opportunities for prayer and Catholic worship — not divisive political messaging,” Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said in response to NCR’s inquiry.
Donilon said in an email that the Catholic Church’s canonical norms “prohibit the use of sacred objects for any purpose other than the devotion of God’s people,” adding that those objects include images of the Christ Child, which Donilon said “are to be used solely to foster faith and devotion.”
Donilon added that St. Susanna Church “neither requested nor received permission” from the archdiocese to “depart from this canonical norm or to place a politically divisive display outside the church.”
The parish isn’t immediately complying with this nonsense. The Nativity is staying up, just as it is, asking for “dialogue and clarity” from “Boston Archbishop Richard Henning before reaching any final decisions regarding the Nativity scene.”
And they’re appropriately using the foolish harrumphing of the diocesan muckety-mucks as a teaching opportunity, pointing out that their display is “faithful to the Gospel and Catholic teaching” and that it aligns with “the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ recent ‘special message’ where the bishops expressed their solidarity with migrants amid the federal government’s immigration crackdown,” as well as with statements — and actions — from the Vatican itself, such as a 2016 Nativity scene there that focused on the plight of refugees.
In his interview with NCR, Josoma said the Gospel is clear about treating immigrants with respect. …
“And we’ve had the privilege of assisting 10 refugee families to resettle in the area since 2018,” said Josoma, who added that those families originated from Burundi, Afghanistan, Honduras, Guatemala and Myanmar.
Josoma said that his parish’s Pax Christi Peace and Justice Group has used the parish manger scene in previous years to also highlight issues pertaining to migration, gun violence and climate change.
“Every year we try to hold up a mirror to the world and say, ‘If the Incarnation took place this year, what would that look like?'” said Josoma, who added that the idea is to reflect the celebration of Christmas and the Incarnation with the reality of “the world around us.”
That’s not what Donilon wants. He wants to celebrate Christmas and the Incarnation in a way that ignores the world around us. He wants a Christmas message that doesn’t take sides — not even against Herod.
Especially not against Herod.
I mean, come on, the guy rebuilt the temple. Plus he’s got all those soldiers and all that gold. If Herod insists on taking sides, we have to make sure we never end up siding against him — even if that means abandoning the side of things that we’ve always been on.
Otherwise we might be perceived as “divisive” and “political.”
And thus, for Donilon and for his idea of the church, “faith and devotion” and “prayer” and “worship” means never taking sides, never disagreeing with Herod. And if that means unifying with the forces of division and bowing to them so that you will never be perceived as “divisive,” then that is what you do. Bowing to Herod/Caesar/Pharaoh/Trump/Antiochus/Nebuchadnezzar becomes what you think of as your “proper sacred purpose.”
Fakh that. A church and faith and devotion like that are meaningless. Prayers and worship like that are meaningless. Even more meaningless than the blandest appeals to open doors and dignity and reconciliation and peace on earth, good will to all.
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