Pope's book

I can't say that realist is a term that would instantly spring to mind either.

This man is not benign.

He's not said anything new. All this stuff has been said before. What's he doing writing a book? I would have thought that being God's representative on Earth would have been a full time job.

I believe Hitler was kind to dogs!

Benign in this instance.

Benign? Try telling that to the women and children of Africa who are going to die of Aids. Or the women of Ireland who cannot get a legal abortion.

The Pope as a benign realist is an interesting concept.

There is no record of a universal census, other than in the gospels, in the time of Augustus. There is a record of a census of Syria and Judaea conducted by Quirinius. However, Quirinius didn't become Governor of Syria until ten years after the death of Herod the Great, who plays a substantial part in the story of the Massacre of the Innocents (not that there is any historical record of this either). Also Roman census practice concerned the town or city of residence not the birthplace or family ancestry.

I'm still getting out my little Nativity set. Wouldn't be the same without it.

conflicting view

"Some scholars have scoffed at the notion that people in faraway Palestine (such as Joseph and Mary) would have had to travel to their ancestral birth place for a census. But we have evidence to show that such traveling was indeed done with a Roman census, in Egypt at least. A Roman census document, dated 104 A.D., has been discovered in Egypt, in which citizens were specifically commanded to return to their original homes for the census.6 Another census document from 119 A.D. has been found in which an Egyptian man identifies himself by giving (1) his name and the names of his father, mother, and grandfather; (2) his original village; (3) his age and profession; (4) a scar above his left eyebrow; (5) his wife's name and age, his wife's father's name; (6) his son's name and age; (6) the names of other relatives living with him. The document is signed by the village registrar and three official witnesses.7 This latter document is of special interest, because it gives us an idea of the kind of information that Joseph and Mary would have had to provide for the census."

That is taken from this article

Horses and donkeys - which exist - are out, but angels are in?

article here

He also said that they have got the year and the date wrong. But most people knew this already.

I think he is just being a realist. A benign one.