“The coming of Christ was long awaited, but no one expected that a stable in Bethlehem would welcome him. My hope for this year is that the Christian message may finally be heard and that the culmination of the politically correct we have now reached may decline”, says Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of Edinburgh, in his Christmas message this year. The cardinal urges “municipalities, Parliaments and other public institutions not to make their own language contorted with the aim of avoiding the word Christmas”. He says he is certain “there is no real risk of the faithful of other religions feeling alienated”. “I have been particularly struck – writes the cardinal – by the Scottish chairman of the association of British Muslims, who has issued a message wishing Christians every blessing for this period of advent. Muslims do not feel offended by Christmas, one of the greatest and most joyful of festivities”. Words that, in the view of the Archbishop of Edinburgh, express the true sense of tolerance and respect. If the faithful of different religions extend their good wishes to their Christian brethren, as many have done recently, we must do the same to others, for a better world”. “While we await the coming of Christ – ends the message – let us rediscover the Christian foundation of our society and remember the words of Benedict XVI, ‘Christ is born to be with us, to live with us, to fill the gap between us and to reconcile us'”.
