Yes, Bishop Staglianò, There Is a Santa Claus, by Sean Fitzpatric

By Sean Fitzpatrick, Crisis Magazine, Dec. 16, 2021

Sean Fitzpatrick is a senior contributor to Crisis and serves on the faculty of Gregory the Great Academy, a Catholic boarding school for boys in Pennsylvania.

“Santa Claus is an imaginary character,” said Bishop Antonio Staglianò of Noto, Sicily, on the feast of St. Nicholas to a church full of families and to audible gasps. “In fact,” His Excellency went on, “I would add that the red of the suit he wears was chosen by Coca Cola exclusively for advertising purposes.” The buzz began about the bishop’s barrage against Babbo Natale, and the diocese issued an apology.

While we may reserve the millstones for those who cause greater scandals than this, we should not, at the same time, understate the scandal that this was—and from a bishop too, no less.  …