(ANSA) - Vatican City, December 27 - Europeans are mistakenly
celebrating Christmas less for fear of hurting the sensibilities
of Muslims, Pope Francis said Wednesday.
Speaking at his last general audience of the year, the pope
said Christmas is too often "distorted" from its true nature in
the name of a "false respect".
"In our time, especially in Europe", Francis said, "we are
seeing a sort of 'distortion' of Christmas: in the name of a
false respect for those who aren't Christians, which often hides
a desire to marginalise faith, every reference to the birth of
Jesus is eliminated from the feast".
Francis said "if we remove Him, the light goes out and
everything becomes fake, showy".
Xmas feted less so Muslims not hurt-pope
'False respect' shown to non-Christians