It’s that time of year. Precisely that, more feared than the oral final exam, but also the job interview that he had been waiting for for some time. Christmas dinner, or lunch. However, the family reunion par excellence. It must be said that at least a decade of muttering about the inappropriateness of certain private questions – from “and the boyfriend?” to “when are you getting married?”, going as far as the indelicate question of children not arriving -, he managed to raise awareness even in his older uncle. More or less.

This is certainly good for family balance – and for mental health these days -, except that current events are now taking center stage at the tables of relatives and friends. Often also the news. And so, if before we found ourselves as the nosy mother’s aunt, now it’s full of opinion-making cousins.

A double-edged sword for all those at the table, because if on the one hand the reunion can take decidedly more interesting and compelling turns, on the other it risks compromising already precarious moods and relationships. Therefore, pay attention to the topics that are discussed.

Pope Francis VS Pope Leo

What awaits you here is not a simple discussion of the Christian religion. By now we should all have broad shoulders in front of the blaspheming brother-in-law who curses Christmas, underlining its mere consumerism, while he has already arranged the bags with the gifts received lined up near the door.

Talking about the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo means being ready for a fiery derby. On the one hand the hipster Catholics of the family, also supported by the atheists, who miss the Argentine Bergoglio and his revolutionary idea of ​​the Church, on the other the traditionalists – now the minority – happy with the new pontificate of the American Prevost, who “finally” does things like Pope, such as living in the Apostolic Palace in St. Peter’s, and tries to “bring the faithful back into line”.

It will not be uncommon to find someone who will return to claim that Pope Francis had already died in the Gemelli hospital, where he had been hospitalized two months earlier, but “they didn’t want to tell us”. Faced with conspiracy theories, however, there is no solution or possibility of comparison. Everyone keeps their own, managing them as they can.

Gaza and the Flotilla

Given that talking about such a serious humanitarian emergency while eating cannelloni, various fried foods and baked potatoes is quite jarring.

This year the ‘children’ who continue to be at the children’s table even though they haven’t been there for a while will all be pro Pal. Or almost. The strong collective conscience awakened by the tragedy in Gaza concerns above all the younger ones. The little cousin who played PlayStation a year ago was probably in the procession blocking the ring road in November, and the scuffle with the aunt who was held captive in traffic for hours, shouting “Netanyahu doesn’t stop a war because you demonstrate”, is just around the corner.

Not to mention any discussions about the Global Sumud Flotilla mission, the Israeli hostages and the definition of genocide. A political thicket from which it is better to stay away, unless you have a degree in geopolitics or a master’s degree in international relations. And then so be it

The Garlasco case

Italians, a people of commentators but also of investigators and magistrates. Especially if you’re a fan of “Quarto Grado”. The reopening of the Garlasco case, with new investigations into Andrea Sempio while Alberto Stasi has been in prison for 10 years for the murder of his girlfriend Chiara Poggi, is better than a crime series for fans of the genre. And many have already condemned the new suspect, spinning plots worthy of Netflix and wallowing in morbid details.

Guaranteeism is buried by the search for sensationalism, and by a hatred towards justice that not even the Count of Monte Cristo. The reasons for the sentence after Boxing Day.

The death of the Kessler twins

This is a topic that will mainly fascinate those over 50. Partly because the Kessler twins – who decided to die together, at 89, despite not being ill – remember them well, partly because the idea of ​​death, once they have passed that age, is no longer so distant. The debate on assisted suicide has certainly made great progress in recent years in Italy, even if it continues to inflame the hearts of Catholic conservatives.

Let’s go back to the ‘derby of the Popes’. It will be difficult to convince the grandmother devoted to Padre Pio that reaching 98 years without one’s autonomy or clarity is not the best, easier instead if the seventy-year-old uncle has already left his will. Be careful not to be too insistent, as the “Snake Relatives” effect is just around the corner.

The family in the woods

The risk of the pippono on capitalism that is killing us is very high, especially if we have nostalgic Marxists at home. The story of the family who lives in the Palmoli forest, in Abruzzo, has divided Italy in half, let alone the potential for detonation between relatives gathered at Christmas.

Three children taken away from their ‘hippie’ parents, only because they decided to let them grow up in nature, far from modern toxicity. A romantic narrative and so populist that it bothered even Salvini, promoter of the spontaneous “let’s bring them home” movement. Social isolation, completely absent school education, a house without toilets, all of which can be overlooked if there is a war to be waged against the “sick society” in which “they all want us to be the same”.

Sixty-eight rebellion against the rules and conformism, until December. Then the thirteenth turn to celebrate Holy Christmas.