Pope Francis’s Christmas Address
The Pope said, “May the Lord inspire us to offer concrete gestures of solidarity to assist all those who are suffering.”
Pope Francis called for an immediate end to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts in his Christmas message on Sunday, saying the world was suffering from a “famine of peace.”
Delivering the 10th Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing and message of his pontificate.
“Let us see the faces of all those children who, everywhere in the world, long for peace,” he said, speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter Basilica, the same spot from which he first emerged as pope when he was elected on March 13, 2013.
He lamented that on Christmas, the “path of peace” is blocked by social forces that include “attachment to power and money, pride, hypocrisy, falsehood.”
“Indeed, we must acknowledge with sorrow that, even as the Prince of Peace is given to us, the icy winds of war continue to buffet humanity,” Francis said.
“If we want it to be Christmas, the birth of Jesus and of peace, let us look to Bethlehem and contemplate the face of the child who is born for us,” he said. “And in that small and innocent face, let us see the faces of all those children who, everywhere in the world, long for peace.”
UKRAINE
“Let us also see the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who are experiencing this Christmas in the dark and cold, far from their homes due to the devastation caused by ten months of war,” he said, speaking to tens of thousands of people in the square below.
“May the Lord inspire us to offer concrete gestures of solidarity to assist all those who are suffering, and may he enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the thunder of weapons and put an immediate end to this senseless war!” Francis said.
He said the Ukraine conflict should not diminish concern for people whose lives have been devastated by other conflicts or humanitarian crises.
“Our time is experiencing a grave famine of peace…” he said.
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