Hence my reference to Adam (as the writer, when he was the composer) is erroneous and should mention Cappeau.

Mea culpa.

The performance is peerless.

But it’s the text which quite takes the breath away.

In a mere 4 minutes 30 seconds the Carol, written by layman Placide Cappeau during a 6 hour stagecoach trip, both chatecises and inspires to an extent that no papal utterence/ document/ exhortation/ impromptu press conference/ tv interview/ coup de théâtre seen since at least 13th March 2013 can remotely compare with.

In the contemporary Vatican world of gimmicks, of manipulation, of style without substance, until Leo XIV takes a leaf out of Adam’s book, an option for which, despite the repeated promises in these columns of major changes in the offing, as I write I see no evidence whatsoever to expect, the Church cannot but continue in its current ever faster downward spiral in the West.