POPE LEO XIV CHARMS THE ROMAN CURIA WITH SUGAR NOT VINEGAR: THE ANNUAL PAPAL CHRISTMAS MESSAGE TO THE ROMAN CURIA—NOTHING SOUR HERE!

You can read Pope Leo first Christmas elocution to the Roman Curia HERE.

There is quite a change in tone from His Holiness’ immediate predecessor, thanks be to God.

Here’s a money-byte that speaks to some in my Province of Atlanta:

At the same time, in the life of the Church, mission is closely linked to communion.  While the mystery of Christmas celebrates the mission of the Son of God among us, it also contemplates its purpose, namely that God has reconciled the world to himself through Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5:19) and in him made us his children.  Christmas reminds us that Jesus came to reveal the true face of God as Father, so that we might all become his children and therefore brothers and sisters to one another.  The Father’s love, embodied and revealed by Jesus in his liberating actions and preaching, enables us, in the Holy Spirit, to be a sign of a new humanity — no longer founded on selfishness and individualism, but on mutual love and solidarity…

…It is urgent…, because communion in the Church always remains a challenge that calls us to conversion.  At times, beneath an apparent calm, forces of division may be at play.  We can fall into the temptation of swinging between two opposite extremes: uniformity that fails to value differences, or the exacerbation of differences and viewpoints instead of seeking communion.  Thus, in interpersonal relationships, in internal office dynamics, or in addressing questions of faith, liturgy, morality and more besides, there is a risk of falling into rigidity or ideology, with their consequent conflicts.