Pope Francis, in his traditional Christmas message on Wednesday, urged “all people of all nations” to find courage during this Holy Year “to silence the sounds of weapons and overcome the divisions” that plague the world, from the East Middle to Ukraine, from Africa to Asia.
The pontiff’s address “Urbi et Orbi” – “To the city and the world” – serves as a summary of the ills facing the world this year. As Christmas coincided with the start of the celebration of the 2025 Holy Year that he dedicated to hope, Francis called for broad reconciliation, “even (with) our enemies.”
“I invite each individual, and all the people of all nations… to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of weapons and to overcome divisions,” the Pope said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. to the crowd of people below.
The Pope invoked the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, which opened on Christmas Eve to inaugurate the Jubilee of 2025, as a representation of God’s mercy, which “unties every knot; break down every wall of division; dissipates hatred and the spirit of revenge.”
He called for silencing the guns in Ukraine and the war-torn Middle East, singling out Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, “particularly in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is extremely serious,” as well as in Lebanon and Syria “in this very delicate moment.”
Francis reiterated his calls for the release of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
He cited a deadly measles outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the suffering of the people of Myanmar, forced to flee their homes by “the ongoing clash of arms.” The Pope also remembered the children who suffer from war and hunger, the elderly who live alone, those who flee their countries of origin, those who have lost their jobs and are persecuted for their faith.
Pilgrims lined up on Christmas Day to cross the great Holy Door at the entrance to St. Peter’s Basilica, as the Jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome.
Passing through the Holy Door is a way for the faithful to obtain indulgences or forgiveness of sins during a Jubilee, a tradition that is repeated every quarter of a century and dates back to 1300.
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Pilgrims underwent security checks before entering the Holy Door, amid fresh security fears following a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany. Many stopped to knock on the door as they passed and made the sign of the cross as they entered the basilica dedicated to St. Peter, the founder of the Roman Catholic Church.
“You feel so humbled when you walk through the door that once you walk through it is almost like a release, a release of emotions,” said Blanca Martín, a pilgrim from San Diego. “…It’s almost like a release of emotions, you feel like now you can let go and put everything in God’s hands. Look, I’m getting emotional. “It’s just a beautiful experience.”
A Chrismukkah miracle when Hanukkah and Christmas coincide
Hanukkah, Judaism’s eight-day Festival of Lights, begins on Christmas Day this year, something that has only happened four times since 1900.
The calendar confluence has inspired some religious leaders to organize interfaith gatherings, such as a Hanukkah party hosted last week by several Jewish organizations in Houston, Texas, that brought together members of the city’s Latino and Jewish communities to enjoy latkes. , the traditional potato pancake eaten at Hanukkah. , topped with guacamole and salsa.
While Hanukkah is intended to be a joyful and celebratory holiday, rabbis note that it will take place this year as wars rage in the Middle East and fears rise over widespread incidents of anti-Semitism. The holidays overlap infrequently because the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles and is not synchronized with the Gregorian calendar, which sets Christmas on December 25. The last time Hanukkah began on Christmas Day was in 2005.
Iraqi Christians persist in their faith
Christians from the Nineveh Plains attended Christmas Mass Tuesday at the Mar Georgis Church in central Telaskaf, Iraq, with security concerns about the future. “We believe that at any moment the rug will be pulled out from under our feet. Our fate is unknown here,” said Bayda Nadhim, a resident of Telaskaf.
Iraqi Christians, whose presence there dates back almost to the time of Christ, belong to various rites and denominations. They once constituted a sizable minority in Iraq, estimated at around 1.4 million.
But the community has been steadily declining since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and even more so in 2014, when the Islamic State militant group swept through the area. The exact number of Christians remaining in Iraq is unclear, but it is believed to be several hundred thousand.
German celebrations silenced by market attack
German celebrations were overshadowed by a car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday that left five people dead, including a 9-year-old boy, and 200 injured. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rewrote his recorded Christmas Day speech to address the attack, saying “there is sorrow, pain, horror and incomprehension at what happened in Magdeburg.” He urged Germans to “stay united” and that “hatred and violence must not have the last word.”
A 50-year-old Saudi doctor who had been practicing medicine in Germany since 2006 was arrested on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and causing bodily harm. The suspect’s X story describes him as a former Muslim and is full of anti-Islamic themes. He criticized the authorities for not combating “the Islamization of Germany” and expressed his support for the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Barry reported from Milan. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem, Rashid Yehya in Teleskaf, Iraq and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany contributed to this report.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
