Not Said By The Pope
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 11:00 AM
After reading a series of blog posts about the Pope’s calling for an end to odd-ball names, I went looking for a text.
The British press in particular has played the story as the Pope taking aim at celebrities, and as that seemed uncharacteristic, I wanted to see what was actually said.
I expected to find a positive treatment of the meaning of names; what I found is he said something else entirely.
Unless he made some unscripted remark that will turn up at the Vatican website later, it appears to me the pope, in his homily for the Baptism of the Lord and later at his Angelus address on the same topic, never mentioned names we give our children.
What he preached about was the importance of the name “Christian,” imparted at Baptism.
Not that saints’ names aren’t important, but FYI. A good reminder not to allow the press to characterize what the Pope says!
Here’s what he’s alleged to have said.
Christian names are an “indelible sign from the Holy Spirit” that help protect family life, the Pope said.
And here’s what he actually said.
It is not by chance, in fact, that every baptized person acquires the character of son from the name Christian, indisputable sign that the Holy Spirit brings man to be born “again” from the womb of the Church.
I assume if I’m mistaken a corrected text will turn up eventually. But for now I think I’m right. Baptism leaves an “indelible” mark, not your name. And it certainly seems more characteristic of the Pope to focus on rediscovering the beauty of Baptism on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Print Blog
Email a FriendPost a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
