Unfortunately, the vice of extrapolating from the Pope's words - no matter how general and how brief - to peddle false ideas about what he said is habitual with MSM. As they have done with this annoying 'news' that is making the list of headlines online about the Papacy, typified by the headline in the story below from the UK Telegraph.
Unless the Pope improvised and said something not transcribed in the Vatican's online versions of the Angelus text (in the bulletin and in OR), what the Pope said, in his Angelus mini-homily on Sunday was this:
"He is truly the Messiah, the Son of the Most High, who, emerging from the waters of the Jordan, establishes regeneration in the Spirit and opens, to those who wish it, the possobility of becoming children of God, in which one acquires the character of a child of God, starting with the Christian name, a sign that the Holy Spirit makes him 'born again' in the womb of the Church".
It wasn't even a full sentence devoted to what the Christian name means!
Pope rails against
rise of un-Christian names
By Nick Squires
January 11, 2011
The Pope has warned parents against giving children celebrity-inspired names and urged them to turn to the Bible for inspiration instead.
While names such as Sienna and Scarlett have become fashionable in recent years, Pope Benedict XVI called for a return to tradition. [Where did he say all that????]
During Mass at the Sistine Chapel [It wasn't at the Mass, but at the Angelus!], he said: "Every baptised child acquires the character of the son of God, beginning with their Christian name, an unmistakable sign that the Holy Spirit causes man to be born anew in the womb of the Church." He added that a name was an "indelible seal" that set children off on a lifelong "journey of religious faith".
[So how does all that translate into the headline and first two sentences of this news report????]
According to the Office for National Statistics, celebrity names such as Ashton – after the actor Ashton Kutcher – and Lily – after the singer Lily Allen – are among the most popular in England and Wales. The names celebrities give their own children can be even more exotic.
Sir Bob Geldof has daughters named Pixie and Peaches, while Victoria and David Beckham called their first son Brooklyn, after the district of New York. Katie Price, the glamour model, named her daughter Princess Tiaamii.
In Italy, the name of a child has particular significance. Children are often named after saints, who are considered a guiding force in their life.
The tradition, however, is increasingly under threat. Francesco Totti, the footballer, recently decided to call his daughter Chanel, while Flavio Briatore, the Formula One boss, named his newborn son Falso Nathan.
Cristina Odone, a former editor of
The Catholic Herald who grew up in Italy, said: "There are so many of the church's traditions which we have come to ignore and which are actually meaningful and have a big spiritual significance. To deprive our children of that sense of having a protecting saint is to rob them of something very significant. Many of today's names are not just un-Christian but they are also crass and consumerist."
According to official statistics, the most popular name for newborns in Britain is Mohammed, after the Islamic prophet. A total of 7,549 newborns were given variations of the name last year. It overtook Jack, which topped the list for 14 years.
Monsignor Andrew Faley, the assistant general secretary to the Catholic Bishops' Conference, said: "The name is not just a label but it moves us into a deeper significance of what it means to be human as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
"Naming children after perfumes, bicycles and countries is putting a limit on their potential. They are not merchandise or commodities.
"When I was a parish priest, if I didn't agree with the name I'd suggest they should give the second name of a saint."
[That was always the practice in my country, the Philippines. If parents wished to give the child a non-Christian name, the priest would insist that there must be a second Christian baptismal name.]
In 2008, Italy's highest court banned a couple from naming their son Venerdi – Friday – saying it was "ridiculous" and would expose him to mockery from his classmates.
Judges from the Cassation Court in Rome ordered that the boy instead be christened Gregorio, after the saint's day on which he was born. The parents, from Genoa, had drawn inspiration from Robinson Crusoe's manservant.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/01/2011 07:09]