Pope Francis used the Christmas mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to make an urgent appeal for peace. The head of the approximately 1.3 billion Catholics recalled the Christmas message “Peace on Earth to people” at the service in the Vatican that evening.
Referring to the war in the Middle East, Francis added: “Our hearts are tonight in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is still repelled by the doomed logic of war, by the noise of weapons.”
This year the festival is particularly influenced by the Gaza War and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. According to the Vatican, around 7,000 people took part in the service in St. Peter’s Basilica. In addition, the events in St. Peter’s Square in front of the church were watched by thousands on large screens. On Monday, the head of the Catholic Church will speak the Urbi et Orbi blessing to the city and the world from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Hardly any tourists in Bethlehem
Christmas will be celebrated very quietly in the Holy Land this year because of the Gaza war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas. In Bethlehem in the West Bank – according to tradition, the birthplace of Jesus Christ – there are hardly any tourists, unlike usual. There were no Christmas trees. Access to the city is extremely restricted by Israeli army roadblocks. There are practically no Christmas decorations in Jerusalem either.
The Pope personally led the Christmas mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. The 87-year-old remained seated most of the time due to a knee problem. Francis called on believers to think about their image of God, especially at Christmas. “There is a danger that we celebrate Christmas with a pagan idea of God in our heads. As if he were a powerful ruler who is in heaven; a God who comes with power, worldly success and the idolatry of consumerism Connection is established.”
The Pope continued: “The false image of an uninvolved and resentful God who treats the good well and gets angry at the bad always returns; a God who is created in our image and whose only purpose is to solve our problems and us to free us from evil.” However, there is no “commercial God of “everything and immediately””. God comes to people “to change reality from within.”
Francis continued: “This is the miracle of Christmas: not a mixture of cheesy feelings and worldly consolations, but the incredible tenderness of God who saves the world by becoming human.”
