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Now here's today's news, discerned differently.

Is it true that Santa Claus's red costume was created by the Coca-Cola Company for publicity?

Italian bishop Antonio Stagliano reportedly made this comment during a recent religious festival

at which he also said, Santa does not exist.

Now his diocese in Sicily is apologizing to outraged parents.

Apparently, the bishop was trying to underline the true meaning of Christmas and the story of

St. Nicholas, a Christian leader who gave gifts to the poor and was persecuted by a Roman emperor.

While I would never want to be on the wrong side of Santa Claus, I also appreciate the bishop's desire to ground the hope of Christmas

in truth and history. We clearly need such hope today. The Kentucky governor stated yesterday afternoon that Friday night's tornado outbreak killed at least 74 people in his state.

With around 800,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., the New York Times reports that one in 100,100 older Americans have died from the virus.

Britain is battling an Omicron tidal wave as infections double every two or three days,

and the first death from the variant was recorded.

And CNN reports that cities across the U.S. are breaking all-time homicide records this year.

One example stands for the rest.

A pastor and his wife were shot while attending a vigil in the Houston area,

being held by a mother for her son, who was killed at his home a couple of weeks ago.

The drive-by shooting Sunday evening killed one person and injured

at least 13 others. Napoleon Bonaparte observed, Courage is like love. It must have hope

for nourishment. Psychologists tell us that hope is essential to managing stress and anxiety as we cope with adversity. In these

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