The Evangelical Pope | The Message of Christmas

Each week we let Saint Pope John Paul II share meaningful signposts to spark socio-economic resolves through justice and righteousness combined with mercy and compassion; in short, love.

               2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testified to it, and we proclaim the eternal life with the Father, and it has appeared to us.

              __ 1 John 1: 2 (New International Version NIV)

The Vatican, 21 December 1988 | The apostle John, in his first letter, announces to us, with joyful enthusiasm, that "life - that is, divine life, eternal life, God himself as life - has become visible" (1 John 1: 2).

Life can be reached; it can be "seen" and "touched." This is the essential content of the evangelical message, which John insists especially. It is the mystery of the incarnation. The mystery of the Word "who becomes flesh" and comes to "dwell among us."

It is the mystery of Christmas, which we will celebrate in a few days. The infinite life of God, blessed life, the life of perfect fullness, transcendent and supernatural life, comes to meet us, offers itself to us, makes itself accessible to man, and presents itself as possible, indeed as the complete happiness of man.

Who could ever have thought that? We, poor and fragile creatures, often incapable of guarding and respecting our physical and natural life, are we beings made for a divine and eternal life? Who could have imagined it if the infinitely merciful love of God had not revealed it?

Yet this is the destiny of man. This is the lucky lot offered to everyone. Even to the most miserable sinners, even to the most hateful despisers of life. Everyone can ascend to participate in the same divine life since the heavenly Father wanted this in Christ.

This is the Christian message. And this is the message of Christmas.

We all instinctively seek happiness. It is in itself a natural thing. But do we always know where true joy is? Do you, young people? Do you adults know this?

We Christians know where true joy is: in communion with God and with our brothers. In the opening of our minds to the coming among us, at Christmas, of the God who becomes man, who is born like any other child on earth, poor among the poor, needy among the needy.

The most high God who makes himself very small. Without losing his infinite dignity, he takes on and makes our infinite misery his own and hides, in a certain way, divinity behind it.

My wish, brothers and sisters, is that you, too, can bear these "fruits of eternal life" in abundance. May the Holy Spirit, with his wisdom and intelligence, guide you to a more profound knowledge of the Christmas mystery, a mystery of light, communion, and joy in the Lord.

With my apostolic blessing.

Translated from Italian and excerpted from:

GIOVANNI PAOLO II, UDIENZA GENERALE, Mercoledì, 21 dicembre 1988
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/it/audiences/1988/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19881221.html

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EDITOR’S NOTE | AN AFTERTHOUGHT

Maduro’s arrest is likely to be a gift to the EU from President Trump.

The thought has possibilities, or is it wishful thinking?

It might help grease the negotiations between Russia and the United States vis-à-vis the EU-US/NATO and Ukraine — Ukrainians have been exploited to serve the US-EU/NATO as cannon fodder. Mr. Trump could now seal his deal with Russia and tell the Europeans: “Get lost, leave me alone. I want this deal with Russia. Get out of the way! I’ll let you pump oil from Venezuela.” Of course, Europe is known for stealing, killing, and destroying for oil, but always while waving the Banner of Holy Goodness.

Now, Mr. Trump can deliver the peace plan that Russia has consistently pursued, ensuring a durable peace for generations to come.

Ironically, Russia can and will sooner rather than later rescue Ukraine from Europe and Europe from itself, much like how Russia freed Europe from Nazi Germany 80 years ago — by sacrificing 27 million Russian lives.

It's like killing two birds with one stone.

The EU is thrilled that the Seven Sisters, including Shell, Esso/Exxon, British Petroleum, etc., have effectively regained their licenses to exploit Venezuelan oil — meaning they won’t buy Venezuelan oil at a fair price. I'm sure Anglo-Dutch Royal Shell and its Seven Sisters family of mostly European-owned oil and gas conglomerates are even more excited about knocking out Venezuela than Venezuelan Nobel Peace Laureate Ms. Marina Corina Machado.

During the 1970s, many of my friends’ parents worked for Royal Dutch Shell in Caracas and elsewhere in Venezuela. As in Iraq, after President Bush bombed Iraq back to the Stone Age, they will soon be able to profit from Venezuelan oil once again.

PS If the United States can prove incontrovertibly beyond any reasonable doubt that the Maduros are the Kingpins of Drugs in South America, I’d say, lock them up and throw away the key.

But can the world trust the CIA-paid informants?

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I’VE SEEN STATES COLLAPSE; NOW I SEE IT HAPPENING HERE

After years reporting from post-authoritarian states, I now see the same patterns in my own backyard—where justice has collapsed, truth is suppressed, and power no longer answers to the people.

Hundreds of unemployed Kentucky residents wait in long lines outside the Kentucky Career Center for help with their unemployment claims on June 19, 2020 in Frankfort, Kentucky. Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images

By Bradley Blankenship
Common Dreams
7 September 2025

I’ve seen the aftermath of collapsed nations—now I see it happening here.

As a journalist and analyst, I have spent the past few years living and reporting in regions experiencing significant political change. In the Czech Republic, I connected with many individuals linked to the Velvet Revolution. I strolled through Prague alongside those who once protested in its streets. I learned Russian, traveled widely across the former Eastern Bloc, and paid close attention to the stories of regime survivors—those who recall the gradual decline of authority, trust, and truth.

Read more: Trump Isn’t Planning to Invade Venezuela. He’s Planning Something Worse

I have also spent considerable time in South America, witnessing a different kind of collapse and renewal. In Bolivia, I spoke with officials and journalists who experienced the 2019 coup and observed their country's journey back to democracy. I accompanied communities that understand firsthand how empires and juntas fall—and how people rebuild in the aftermath.

Now I believe this country is collapsing.

Not in the dramatic, Hollywood fashion we tend to imagine—there are no tanks in the streets, no blackout zones or food lines. But what I am witnessing now in Northern Kentucky, through my work with the Northern Kentucky Truth & Accountability Project (NKTAP), is unmistakable: a slow-motion institutional implosion. And it mirrors what I have seen in failed or failing states around the world.

In Northern Kentucky, I’ve uncovered a network of corruption that spans law enforcement, prosecutorial offices, courts, and local media. I’ve documented how whistleblowers are silenced, public records denied, and criminal cases manipulated to protect the powerful.

Police ignore credible murder leads. Prosecutors bury evidence. Courts issue orders without hearings. And journalists—some out of fear, others out of complicity—refuse to report the truth. In my own case, I’ve faced obstruction, threats, targeted harassment, and retaliatory smears simply for investigating what any decent system should have investigated itself.

Our institutions are no longer capable of self-correction. That means the burden of accountability, truth telling, and justice now falls on us.

The structures of governance still stand. The buildings are still open. But the rule of law has collapsed in all but name. What remains is theater—a simulation of justice that functions to preserve power, not serve the public.

This isn’t just about Northern Kentucky. It’s a microcosm. I’m in touch with colleagues around the country—investigators, reporters, former civil servants—and I hear the same story again and again:

• Entire state agencies captured by private interests;
• Local governments ignoring open records laws;
• Whistleblowers retaliated against without recourse;
• Judges ruling from sealed dockets with no oversight;
• Public health policy shaped by ideology, not science; and
• Independent journalism gutted, bought, or blacklisted.

We are in a moment of mass epistemic failure, where truth itself is destabilized, and power no longer answers to reason, law, or fact.

• It doesn’t come with a bang. It comes with:
• The quiet refusal to investigate credible crimes;
• The steady normalization of lawlessness;
• The dissolution of public trust; and
• The emergence of parallel systems of truth-telling and justice.

This is what I’ve seen before. In Prague. In La Paz. In the fractured republics of the former USSR. It begins when the official channels of accountability no longer function—and the people must build their own.

That’s what I’m doing with the Northern Kentucky Truth & Accountability Project. We’re documenting. Archiving. Speaking to victims. Exposing public records that local officials tried to bury. We’re creating a people’s archive—a living record of a regime in decline.

Because when institutions stop telling the truth, the only way forward is to tell it ourselves.

I used to believe that America was “different”—that our legal tradition, constitutional system, and civic institutions would inoculate us from the kinds of collapse I saw abroad.

I no longer believe that.

The US is not collapsing because it is uniquely broken.

It is collapsing because it is a state like any other, vulnerable to the same corruption, elite decay, and loss of legitimacy that have brought down countless systems before.

The question is not whether collapse is happening. It is.

The question is what we do after we accept that reality.

We can pretend this is just “polarization.”

We might believe that waiting for the next election will restore balance as the pendulum swings back. Alternatively, we must accept that our institutions are no longer able to self-correct. This places the responsibility of accountability, truth, and justice squarely on us—journalists, organizers, whistleblowers, and everyday individuals brave enough to say: enough.

I’ve seen what happens when people organize. I’ve also seen what happens when they don’t.

And I’m telling you: Now is the time to choose.

GUEST EDITORIAL | THE AMERICAN BLITZKRIEG ON VENEZUELA: NO ONE IS SAFE

The military incursion and kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro demonstrate how normalized the outrageous has become.

FILE PHOTO. © Getty Images/guvendemir

By Tarik Cyril Amar, a historian from Germany working at Koç University, Istanbul, on Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, the history of World War II, the cultural Cold War, and the politics of memory

@tarikcyrilamartarikcyrilamar.substack.comtarikcyrilamar.com

Substack.com
4 January 2026

Annotated by Abraham A. van Kempen

After over twenty years of diplomatic, economic, and covert efforts, the US launched a regime change operation in Venezuela. The mission aimed to quickly capture President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas and was executed efficiently. However, it resulted in casualties, including over 100 deaths from strikes on suspected smuggling vessels and the overlooked impact of sanctions.

In the early hours of January 3, American officials described a "large-scale strike" against Venezuela, targeting multiple locations, including Caracas. Despite the extensive military buildup and psychological warfare campaigns leading up to these night raids, resistance appears to have been minimal for unknown reasons. The operation's timing and coordination suggest that betrayal, subversion, and clandestine deals could have been involved.

Certain details about the US invasion of Venezuela may stay ambiguous, but some facts are clear: these actions are inherently unlawful, violating the UN Charter's prohibition of aggression. Even allied European nations like Germany recognize this, as shown by a recent Die Zeit opinion piece.

Washington’s reasons seem superficial, failing to account for the intelligence of the involved parties. Venezuela and Maduro haven't significantly contributed to America’s drug issues. The legitimacy of Maduro’s 2024 election isn’t the concern; these are internal sovereign matters, not justifications for foreign military intervention. Who might be next? In Germany, mainstream parties have barred the New Left BSW from parliament, which some see as a coup.

Recent bizarre ramblings about Iran and Venezuela serve as pretexts, but they also hint at some real truths. Maduro has been penalized for openly supporting the Palestinian victims of the ongoing genocide by Israel and the US. Israeli politicians, known for their bullying behavior, have seized Trump’s attack on Venezuela as an opportunity to threaten Iran with similar violence. Meanwhile, Trump has framed his assault in the context of the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the equally criminal operations during “Operation Midnight Hammer.”

Read more
Trump warns interim Venezuelan leader of ‘bigger price’ after US seizure of Maduro: LIVE UPDATES.

The real reasons for America's pressure on Venezuela are clear, especially since figures like Trump have openly stated them. Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves and also possesses significant gold, rare earths, and other valuable resources.

Trump claims much of this wealth genuinely belongs to the US and its companies, which he considers the same, and has pledged to reclaim it—an effort he is actively pursuing. Greed drives this aggressive campaign against a militarily weak victim. As Trump admits, it involves "a tremendous amount of wealth.”

Greed isn’t the only factor; geopolitics also plays a role. Recent U.S. interventions in Argentina and Honduras, ongoing pressures on Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, show this. The pardon of a drug-kingpin-politician in Honduras and the attack on Venezuela, linked to the "Donroe Doctrine," highlight this, with the doctrine being a modern, assertive version of the Monroe Doctrine.

Marco Rubio, once a Trump critic and now a loyal adviser, serves as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor—similar to Henry Kissinger. He highlighted the threat against Cuba. Besides Trump, US foreign policy is driven by a ruthless individual with a vendetta in the Caribbean and Latin America, also aiming to succeed Trump as president.

The U.S. National Security Strategy emphasizes the challenges faced by the U.S.' southern neighbors. It introduces a “Trump Corollary,” inspired by Theodore Roosevelt, to underscore U.S. leadership. The strategy aims to boost America's influence by supporting friendly governments and managing opposition.

Ultimately, the U.S. urges Latin American nations to maintain sovereignty by crafting independent foreign policies, discouraging engagement with 'outsiders' like China and Russia. Venezuela and others are targeted, and the region perceives Washington's strong message.

Trump cannot see himself failing, claiming "American dominance in the western hemisphere will never be questioned again." Yet, failure remains possible for him, and his hyper-imperialist approach could backfire or trigger backlash. When US efforts fail, victims often suffer ruin.

Read more
Venezuela names acting president

Even Hal Brands, a supporter of US imperialism, warned that Trump’s tactics could have unpredictable adverse effects, such as setting a dangerous precedent for China's future dealings with Taiwan. While the comparison is clear, Beijing's legitimate claim to Taiwan differs from Washington’s stance on Venezuela and its efforts against Maduro, despite Brands' awkward hints.

And to be honest, even if Brands has failed to notice from his Henry Kissinger Chair perch, the US has long set precedents for breaking laws, rules, and moral norms, such as co-perpetrating the Gaza Genocide with Israel. The attack on Venezuela adds another facet to American lawlessness.

Ironically, some who seek Washington's friendship overlook the selfishness and immorality of American policy. Notably, Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine and Maria Corina Machado of Venezuela are examples.

Zelensky previously tweeted about detecting Russian operatives in Venezuela, trying to boost US efforts to isolate the country. Now, as a defiant, less effective 'client,' he might even face American regime change. Machado, who has shown a willingness to betray her country, has just been discarded by Trump, who said she lacks leadership qualities for Venezuela. Maria, cease efforts; you’ve been dismissed. Jolani was the subordinate chosen, not you.

Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize may have caused more harm than good. President Trump, possessively, probably thought it was his right, though he doesn’t deserve it. The Nobel Peace Prize is imperfect, but mentioning it during an invasion campaign is troubling. We should end this tradition.

Read more
‘She has no support or respect’: Trump trashes Venezuelan Nobel winner’s claim to power

Overall, the American president’s press conference was a classic Trump display, showcasing his trademark grandiose style. He personally took credit for the "spectacular" attack on Venezuela, calling it "one of the most stunning, effective, and powerful displays of American military strength and skill" and claiming it hadn’t been matched since World War II. Trump, absorbed in self-praise, overlooked that his own comments about the operation suggested a less glorious story: an "overwhelming" US force was involved, yet no American soldiers or "pieces of equipment" were lost. In reality, this was neither a fierce nor a fair fight.

The US president reaffirmed that the US seeks control over Venezuela’s resources, especially oil. Washington plans to manage the country until it can install a puppet government, reflecting blatant power use with superficial claims of benefiting Venezuelans. This occurs under the US Navy’s presence, which recently targeted the country and remains ready to intervene, resembling gangland tactics.

The president’s press conference revealed an unsettling truth about the war: the bizarre normalcy of the completely abnormal. Washington’s recent actions are a shocking mix of criminality, greed, and arrogance, yet they are also predictable. Similarly, the hypocritical reactions from NATO-EU allies, who think their role is to 'observe,' highlight the same disconnect. Good luck with that!

In a more typical world—though still imperfect—everyone would recognize that the US is the most dangerous rogue state by a wide margin. This is true both in terms of power and moral corruption, brutality, and insanity. In such a world, even the worst enemies might find a way to work together to contain this geopolitical monster. However, this world has not yet materialized, and simply having multiple powers does not guarantee stability.

Tarik Cyril Amar, PhD, is a historian and specialist in international politics. He holds a BA in Modern History from Oxford University, an MSc in International History from the London School of Economics, and a PhD in History from Princeton University.

Dr. Amar has held scholarships at the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and directed the Center for Urban History in Lviv, Ukraine.

Originally from Germany, he has lived in the UK, Ukraine, Poland, the USA, and Turkey.

His book, 'The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv: A Borderland City between Stalinists, Nazis, and Nationalists,' was published by Cornell University Press in 2015. He is also preparing a study on the political and cultural history of Cold War television spy stories and is currently working on a new book about the global reaction to the war in Ukraine.

He has given interviews on various programs, including several on Rania Khalek Dispatches and Breakthrough News.

His website is https://www.tarikcyrilamar.com/; he is on Substack under https://tarikcyrilamar.substack.com, and tweets under @TarikCyrilAmar.