Yet if the Vatican has long practiced a methodical, discreet brand of diplomacy, what has changed under Francis — or has been restored — is a vision of diplomatic boldness, a willingness to take risks and insert the Vatican into diplomatic disputes, especially where it can act as an independent broker.

Even as the Vatican has spent decades building trust in Cuba, and working steadily to break down the impasse with the United States, it was Francis who took the fateful risks — writing secret letters to President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba, and then offering the Vatican for a secret and critical meeting between both sides in October.

The comparison now cited by many analysts is with Pope John Paul II. If the two popes are not always simpatico on ideology, both men have understood how to use the papacy in a global media age and use the power of personal biography to help position the Vatican as a neutral broker.

Yet, judging from his itinerary, Francis is pushing to establish the Vatican as a trusted diplomatic broker. In less than two years as pope, he has already traveled to the Middle East, Turkey, South Korea, Brazil, Albania, France and the Italian island of Lampedusa, where he called attention to the plight of migrants. Next month, he will travel to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, and next fall he will make his first visit to the United States.

Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the archbishop of Havana, is credited with adroitly navigating the difficult role of defending the church against government persecution, even as he kept contacts alive with the Cuban authorities. In the end, though, it was Francis who helped engineer the final breakthrough. “Francis has brought back the Holy See on the international stage,” said Marco Politi, an author and veteran Vatican analyst.

In his words to the German Church leaders, the Pope said half a century of significant progress in the dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics is grounded in sincere friendship and growing cooperation between the two communities. He said the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, signed 15 years ago in the Bavarian city of Augsburg, is a milestone which enables us to continue with confidence along the ecumenical journey which St John Paul II described as an essential task of the Catholic Church.

Noting how the bells in all cathedrals across Germany were rung last month to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vatican II decree on ecumenism, the Pope said we must celebrate past progress, while looking towards the future with hope. While the goal of full unity sometimes seems to be clouded by different views of the nature of Church, Pope Francis said we must never resign ourselves but rather be focused on the next step forward.

Finally Pope Francis looked ahead to the fifth centenary of the Reformation which Lutherans and Catholics will be commemorating together in 2017, not as “a triumphalistic celebration”, but as a “profession of our common faith in the One, Triune God”. He said may this event encourage us all, with the help of God and the support of the Holy Spirit, to take further steps towards reconciliation and unity.

In many ways the story could hardly be a better metaphor for American foreign policy in the past few years. After almost a decade of reckless, ham-fisted over-stretch under George W Bush — typified by this month’s appalling revelations about the CIA’s torture programme — the US has turned inwards. Obama’s policy in Syria and Ukraine has been a shambles, his attitude to Russia is dithering and pusillanimous, and he seems entirely bereft of ideas about how to fight back against the jihadists of Islamic State. In this context, therefore, Sony’s surrender to the North Koreans merely looks like more of the same.

Until a year ago, Ukraine remained non-aligned between the two great European powers. But the EU wanted its land, its 48 million people (such a reservoir of cheap labour!) its Black Sea coast, its coal and its wheat. So first, it spent £300 million (some of it yours) on anti-Russian ‘civil society’ groups in Ukraine. Then EU and Nato politicians broke all the rules of diplomacy and descended on Kiev to take sides with demonstrators who demanded that Ukraine align itself with the EU.

Imagine how you’d feel if Russian politicians had appeared in Edinburgh in September urging the Scots to vote for independence, or if Russian money had been used to fund pro-independence organisations. Then a violent crowd (20 police officers died at its hands, according to the UN) drove the elected president from office, in violation of the Ukrainian constitution.

During all this process, Ukraine remained what it had been from the start – horrendously corrupt and dominated by shady oligarchs, pretty much like Russia. If you didn’t want to take sides in this mess, I wouldn’t at all blame you. But most people seem to be doing so. If anyone really is trying to punish the Russian people for being patriotic, by debauching the rouble, I cannot imagine anything more irresponsible. It was the destruction of the German mark in 1922, and the wipeout of the middle class that resulted, which led directly to Hitler.

Stupid, ill-informed people nowadays like to compare Mr Putin with Hitler. I warn them and you that, if we succeed in overthrowing Mr Putin by unleashing hyper-inflation in Russia, we may find out what a Russian Hitler is really like. And that a war in Europe is anything but fun. So, as it’s almost Christmas, let us sing with some attention that bleakest and yet loveliest of carols, It Came Upon The Midnight Clear, stressing the lines that run ‘Man at war with man hears not the love song which they bring. Oh, hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing’.

Or gloat at your peril over the scenes of panic in Moscow.

Again, we hear in the news that the Israeli police have arrested a Jewish man who tried taking a candle onto the Temple Mount during Hanukkah. Forty-seven years after the liberation of the Mount by the IDF, what does the famous quote by General Motta Gur mean – Har Habayit Beyadeinu, “the Temple Mount is in our hands”? As we light Hanukkah candles each night of the holiday of Hanukkah, we say blessings thanking God for His miracles in those days – the days of the Maccabees – and at this time.

I think that the time has come that the State of Israel apply full Israeli sovereignty on the most holy place for the Jewish people, and allow Jews freedom of prayer on the Temple Mount. That would be a true expression of the miracles that took place in those days and at this time. Chag sameach.

Analysts have pointed out that the two designs hew very closely to two Lockheed Martin products — the F-35 joint strike fighter and the company’s radar offering for the Air Force’s Three Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DELRR) competition, respectively. Reports of a major cyber breach of Lockheed’s programs by Chinese hackers have been around since April 2009, and a general consensus has emerged across industry that China’s military has benefited from that information.

That kind of infiltration is costing US industries billions of dollars, warned Brett Lambert, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for manufacturing and industrial base policy, during November’s NATO Industry Forum in Split, Croatia. “No one has been hit harder on a seismic scale than US industry,” he said, citing estimates that the US has lost $300 billion in intellectual property, with much of it coming from the defense industry.

"For the Hungarian government the most important [issue] is to guarantee their security and future," Lazar was quoted as telling the newspaper. He said Hungary's stance was that peace talks, not only economic sanctions, were needed to defuse the conflict, and it was Germany that could resolve the situation.

"From the aspect of Hungary, the most important world leader today is Angela Merkel," Lazar said. "For 2015, our most important foreign policy goal is to strengthen our alliance with Germany." German media has reported Merkel is due in Budapest in February, but Lazar did not give a date.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, now generally known as TTIP, is primarily a deal to cut tariffs and regulatory barriers to trade between the US and EU countries, making it easier for companies on both sides of the Atlantic to access each other's markets. Industries it would affect include pharmaceuticals, cars, energy, finance, chemicals, clothing and food and drink.

The British government claims TTIP could add £10 billion to the UK economy, £80 billion to the US and £100 billion to the EU every year. It says shoppers would benefit by the removal of EU import tariffs on popular goods, such as jeans and cars. It's also claimed that reducing regulation would help UK businesses export to the US, with small businesses in particular predicted to benefit.

Natalie Bennett, Green Party leader: "The proposed trade deal is a huge threat to our democracy and our sovereignty. We have seen the UK participating in a disastrous race to the bottom on corporate tax rates and wages. We must not also walk into lowering our workers' rights, environmental standards and food health standards. Chicken carcasses washed in bleach, hormone-stuffed beef and open season on pollution are not things we want to import from the US."

The procedure, which was developed by British scientists, is currently banned, but ministers want to change the law to prevent children suffering debilitating conditions like muscular dystrophy. Under the new rules, IVF (In-Vitro Fertilisation) clinics will be able to replace an egg's defective mitochondrial DNA with healthy DNA from a female donor's egg.

It is controversial because it would result in babies having DNA from three people – and effectively, two mothers. The announcement follows a public consultation which saw overwhelming support for the procedure.