Has Pope Benedict been reading this blog?
After my recent arguments in favour of treating the different nativity stories of Matthew and Luke according to their own integrity, I was intrigued to come across this news report: Vatican nativity does away with the manger. The story is plainly inaccurate in some respects: I can’t imagine any Vatican spokesman claiming that the Angelus is based on St Matthew’s gospel. But at the heart of the story is this quotation:
The new setting was inspired by two verses in St Matthew’s gospel, Chapter 1:24 and 1:25, the Vatican said, which state: “When Joseph woke up, he did as the Angel of God ordered and took Mary into his house. Without them knowing each other, a child was born and he called his name Jesus”.
Therefore the infant will be placed in Joseph’s carpentry home workshop, surrounded by the tools of his guardian’s trade.
As I say, I’m not sure how much credence to place in this report, given its inaccuracies, and no, I don’t think (unfortunately) that Papa Ratzi is now a metacatholic, but I couldn’t resist drawing this to your attention.
December 15th, 2007 at 10:39 am
?? is there not a time lapse between the two verses?? And wouldn’t v 24’s ‘into his house’ be an expression akin to ‘under his protection’?