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When I was living in London 20 years ago, I was touched one Halloween when a British friend surprised me with a card to mark the holiday.
It was the first and only Halloween card I've ever received. Obviously, I didn't tell her that. She thought she was helping me to feel at home in her country by remembering a tradition from mine; why tell her that it isn't really a holiday for exchanging cards?
Since then, however, Europeans have become more familiar with Halloween. Which is why the Vatican has grown more vocal in its condemnation of the annual observance.
In an article in L'Osservatore Romano, the Holy See says Halloween is a pagan celebration of "terror, fear and death." The official Vatican paper warns parents against allowing children to dress up as ghosts and ghouls (We're getting this from British newspapers, because we haven't been able to find the original story at the L'Osservatore Romano Web site).
The article, headlined “The Dangerous Messages of Halloween,” quotes liturgical expert Joan Maria Canals as saying 'Halloween has an undercurrent of occultism and is absolutely anti-Christian” and urging parents “'to be aware of this and try to direct the meaning of the feast towards wholesomeness and beauty rather than terror, fear and death.'
Last year, Nick Pisa writes in the Daily Mail, the newspaper Avvenire, published by the Italian bishops, appealed for a full-blown boycott, describing Halloween as a “dangerous celebration of horror and the macabre.” Aldo Bonaiuto, head of the Catholic Church's anti-occult and sect unit, said the event “promotes the culture of death,” could spur 'pitiless (Satanic) sects without scruples,” “pushes new generations towards a mentality of esoteric magic and … attacks sacred and spiritual values through a devious initiation to the art and images of the occult.
"At best," Bonaiuto concludes, "it gives a big helping hand to consumerism and materialism.”
The Catholic Church in Spain has also condemned the growing popularity of Halloween, saying it threatened to overshadow the Christian festival of All Saints' Day, Nick Squires writes in the Telegraph.
The Bishop of Sigüenza-Guadalajara, José Sanchez, said there was a risk that Halloween could "replace Christian customs like devotion to saints and praying for the dead,” Squires writes.
****************** Note from CR: "Yes ... and it gets better and better as we go ..."
Interesting article...yet I think it's even more interesting that the only "official" reactions by vatican werer a Spanish cardinal in 2000 and a French one ine 2004. There has never been an official "letter" or speech on it by Vatican (the very official words are always available as a print-version on their homepage). .... There was this one guy speaking against Harry Potter though **
If we're going to boycott Samhain then I'd like to boycott Valentines day. I don't understand what there is to celebrate about a man (now saint) whom ripped out the hearts of so called 'heathens' in the name of God.
Seriously. If God is so merciful and loving, you really believe he/she/it would approve of such monstrous doings in their name? Heyyyaalll nah
Um....lets see....if I can't get my Halloween candies.....then...let's get rid of St. Patrick's day. I mean comon....All St. Patrick did was run out and kill snakes (read: druids)...isn't that technically a holiday that celebrates death? Shouldn't we ban it too?
For Macha Rising...RE: St Valentine's heart rippin' antics
Maybe their God *doesn't* approve of people doing such monsterous things in his/her/its name.
And anyways, isn't St. Valentine's day another church-appropriated pagan holiday? I seem to remember somewheres that it is Roman (or earlier) in origin.
If we're going to boycott Samhain then I'd like to boycott Valentines day. I don't understand what there is to celebrate about a man (now saint) whom ripped out the hearts of so called 'heathens' in the name of God.
Seriously. If God is so merciful and loving, you really believe he/she/it would approve of such monstrous doings in their name? Heyyyaalll nah
Ripped out the hearts of heathens? Would you happen to have a source for that claim? Am I blindly missing that tidbit on
Hey Hey Hey now....You're taking my day of 'Perfectly good reason to drink myself stupid' away....
There is always Cinco de Mayo, New Year's Eve, etc.
I seem to remember a poignant scene in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" when the rabbi says: "But this is sacramental wine. It's only used to bless things. Wait a minute! There's things here. There's trees, there's rocks... there's birds, there's squirrels. Come on! We'll bless them all until we get fahsnickered!
Vatican condemns Halloween 
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Saint_Valentine
I seem to remember a poignant scene in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" when the rabbi says: "But this is sacramental wine. It's only used to bless things. Wait a minute! There's things here. There's trees, there's rocks... there's birds, there's squirrels. Come on! We'll bless them all until we get fahsnickered!
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