Pope Francis called for selfless humanity at Christmas. "We don't wait for the next one to be righteous to do him good, that the Church is perfect to love her, that the others respect us for serving us. Let's start," he said Head of the Catholic Church at the traditional Christmas mass on Tuesday evening in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
On Christmas Eve, Francis emphasized the importance of the Christmas message. "Christmas reminds us that God continues to love everyone, even the worst," he said. At Christmas, Christians celebrate the birth of the founder of religion, Jesus Christ, in whom, according to Christian belief, God became man. "In Jesus God made himself a child to be embraced by us," said the Pope.
God's love for people is not conditional. "How often do we think that God is good when we are good and that He punishes us when we are bad? It is not like that," said Francis.
Francis entered the basilica shortly before 9:30 p.m. behind a procession of gold-clad cardinals. Before the mass began, he unveiled a Christ Child figure. Twelve children from Italy, Japan, Venezuela, Kenya, Uganda, the Philippines and Iraq laid flowers all around.
The Pope also made indirect statements in the Christmas Knife on cases of abuse in the Catholic Church. He called on the 1.3 billion Catholics not to refuse to love God through the church's misconduct. There is no excuse not to accept God's love. "Whatever goes wrong in our life, whatever fails in the church (...) can no longer serve as an excuse." The Catholic Church has been grappling with sexual abuse of priests against minors for years. Critics accuse the Vatican of covering up the abuse cases and protecting the perpetrators.
For Francis, who turned 83 last week, it is the seventh Christmas party this year as head of the Catholic Church. The former Archbishop of Buenos Aires was the successor to Benedict XVI's resignation in March 2013. been elected pontiff. He donates the traditional papal blessing "Urbi et Orbi" on Wednesday, the first Christmas day.
Procession in the Holy Land
Christmas was also celebrated on Tuesday in the Holy Land. A convoy of 40 vehicles drove from Jerusalem to Bethlehem in the West Bank, just under 10 kilometers away. The procession was led by the head of the Catholic Patriarchate in the Holy Land, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa. The procession was ceremoniously received at the Nativity scene in Bethlehem in the West Bank. Pizzaballa, an Italian Franciscan, was also supposed to celebrate the midnight mass in the evening in Bethlehem, at which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was also expected.
According to evangelist Luke, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and placed in a crib. The Church of the Nativity is at the suspected place. According to the Bible, Jerusalem is the place of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.
