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Priest 'ruins Christmas' for kids | Priest 'ruins Christmas' for kids |
(about 7 hours later) | |
A Catholic priest has been criticised by parents in a city in northern Italy for telling their children that Father Christmas does not really exist. | A Catholic priest has been criticised by parents in a city in northern Italy for telling their children that Father Christmas does not really exist. |
Father Dino Bottino, the parish priest of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Novara, let out the secret at a children's mass earlier this month. | Father Dino Bottino, the parish priest of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Novara, let out the secret at a children's mass earlier this month. |
A local paper published complaints from dozens of parents. "You've ruined my children's Christmas," said one mother. | A local paper published complaints from dozens of parents. "You've ruined my children's Christmas," said one mother. |
But an unrepentant Fr Bottino called it his duty to set the record straight. | But an unrepentant Fr Bottino called it his duty to set the record straight. |
"I told the children that Father Christmas was an invention that had nothing to do with the Christian Christmas story," he said. | "I told the children that Father Christmas was an invention that had nothing to do with the Christian Christmas story," he said. |
"And I would repeat it again, if I had the chance," he added. | "And I would repeat it again, if I had the chance," he added. |
But Father Dino could not have imagined the scorn that would be heaped upon him after he told children at mass that neither Father Christmas - nor the kindly witch called the Befana who provides presents on 6 January to Italian children - really exist. | |
The priest said he had never intended to hurt anyone, but it was his duty to distinguish the reality of Jesus from the story of Father Christmas which was a fable just like Cinderella or Snow White. | The priest said he had never intended to hurt anyone, but it was his duty to distinguish the reality of Jesus from the story of Father Christmas which was a fable just like Cinderella or Snow White. |
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