In his Christmas message, Pope Francis called for an end to the “senseless war” in Ukraine. “The Lord (…) enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the guns and put an immediate end to this senseless war,” he told thousands of the faithful in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on Sunday.
Under the impression of the bloody conflict in the Ukraine, the head of the Catholics remembered the suffering children in particular. He recognizes in the face of the newborn Jesus in the manger “the faces of the children who long for peace in all parts of the world,” said Francis on Sunday from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
After two years of Corona, the pontifex celebrated Christmas mass again for the first time in a fully occupied Peters Basilica in front of around 7000 guests. On Sunday, St. Peter’s Square was filled with tens of thousands of believers for Francis’ Christmas message.
May our gaze embrace the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
Pope Francis in his Christmas message
Francis lamented that “while the Prince of Peace is given to us, the winds of war continue to blow chillingly across humanity.” As in almost all of the Pope’s speeches since the end of February, Ukraine also played an important role on the first holiday. “May our eyes embrace the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who are experiencing this Christmas in the dark, in the cold or far from their homes – due to the destruction caused by ten months of war,” Francis said.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the pope has repeatedly condemned war and called for peace. At the same time, however, the Vatican tried to maintain dialogue with Moscow. Critics accused the head of the church of not having criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin explicitly enough.
The pope had already preached during Christmas Eve mass that the weak and poor were “the main sufferers of human greed”. “I am thinking in particular of the children who are being devoured by war, poverty and injustice.”
The pontiff also spoke of “other scenes of this third world war” and mentioned, for example, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, the Sahel, Iran and Myanmar. He also asked not to forget refugees, the poor and those suffering from hunger in the world.
In his speech from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, he also warned of the effects of the ten-month war on the food situation. People around the world were suffering from hunger, the pontiff said. “The war in Ukraine has further aggravated the situation, leaving entire populations at risk of starvation, particularly in Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa countries,” added the head of the Catholic Church.
“Every war, we know, causes hunger and weapons of food, preventing its distribution to already suffering populations,” said Pope Francis in his address, which was broadcast on radio and television around the world. The 86-year-old called for people to work “that food is only a means of peace”. He then bestowed the Urbi et Orbi blessing on the city and the world.
The Pope also thought “of the Holy Land, where violence and clashes have increased in recent months, with deaths and injuries”. There the Christmas celebrations had begun on Christmas Eve with the traditional procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. This was led by the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa. (AFP, dpa)
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