Memories
of Yuletides Past

Christmas 1929
It was my first public speech. If today I am familiar with the practise of a wealth of beautiful Roman Christmas traditions, I owe it to my old Aunt Mariannina, born in 1854 and an intransigent supporter of the Papal cause. I had been born in her house and it was there that we lived after the sad Segni period (small town south of Rome). These traditions included the possibility of climbing into the pulpit of the Aracoeli Church to recite Christmas poetry. The previous year I had queued up to do so but when I reached the little stairs to the pulpit, my courage failed me and I didn't climb them. This time, however, I was very good and declaimed with a certain degree of success and no mistakes so that, in the end, I rather regretted having to climb down again.

Discovery of the body of Aldo Moro

     The Church of Sant'Andrea della Valle - the Tosca church, though I didn't know it at the time - was the venue for another Christmas event. Here, to a backdrop of the altar major, the figures of the central crib scene were arranged and they were of gigantic proportions. We usually went on the eve of the Epiphany to see the Magi to whom the people of Rome were so devoted that it became the custom to include one of the Magi's names in the list given to children at baptism. I never knew which Magi had my name of Gaspare but I kept up this tradition with my own children.
     I have never been attracted, on the other hand, by the noise and bustle of Piazza Navona (traditional Epiphany venue for children) although I did not disdain a stroll around the various stalls. But it was enough to endure the din on the eve of Epiphany (when children receive presents from an imaginary witch) to relegate it to things unpleasant.
     I have often asked myself why the distribution of presents, the dream of so many children, has to be carried out by an ugly crone on a broomstick. Today in any case in this age of domestic appliances, she would at least use a vacuum cleaner in the fable.

Pope John Paul I with Cardinal Karol Wojtyla

Christmas 1978
This is a very sad Christmas. The most dramatic year in my life, because of the irremediable tragedy of Aldo Moro (former Christian Democrat premier kidnapped and later killed by left-wing Red Brigade terrorists in Rome) is drawing to a close. I am not thinking of the political consequences of that event nor of the polemics that ensued about an alleged possibility of preventing the murder. I am shocked at the thinking of the (Moro) family to whom Aldo dedicated the most touching of messages from his prison. When in the FUCI years (Italian Catholic Universities Federation) some of us were given our first opportunities to undertake public commitment, Aldo resisted for a long time considering this a betrayal, almost, of his calling to study. Now, after this atrocious defeat, should I say that he was right? I don't feel I can say that. All I can say in truth is that - and I'm reading from my diary entry on which this note is based - without his fervent moderation, the imbalances would now be tipped further this way and that.

Christmas 1993
This is my first Christmas as someone under investigation. I find myself carefully checking if I am receiving the same number of Christmas cards and greetings telegrams. I am and, indeed, I have the feeling that they have increased slightly with all those letters full of affection and understanding. How should I reply to them? I have always replied personally because I detest the common practice of commissioning secretaries to do this type of thing, with the squalid result that you see yourself using the polite form of "you" (the formal "Lei" in Italian) for people you have known since childhood. But now I have another problem: if I also reply as is my custom to people I don't know, I run the risk of "corresponding" with dubious individuals. I hadn't thought about it until now. Perhaps I could adopt a formula such as: "While never having had the pleasure of your acquaintance, I return your greetings". This is a form typical of the Vatican diplomatic style, which has letters conclude with this phrase of many meanings: "With all the esteem you deserve". Whether great esteem or none at all is not specified.