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Christmas in the Vatican: Unlike in previous years, because of the corona pandemic, no crowds can gather in front of St. Peter's Basilica
Photo: VINCENZO PINTO / POOL / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
The traditional Christmas mass of Pope Francis on Christmas Eve in the Vatican will take place much earlier this year - it started at 7.30 p.m.
So believers should be able to observe the Italian curfew from 10 p.m.
However, the corona pandemic not only messed up the processes on Christmas Eve.
The 84-year-old Pope will not recite the Christmas message on December 25th and the blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (“The city and the world”) from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, but in the cathedral's benediction hall.
Unlike in previous years, no crowds can gather in front of St. Peter's Basilica due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With the blessing "Urbi et orbi" the Pope exempts the believers from punishing their sins if they have repented them beforehand, for example in confession or through prayers.
It is usually donated at Easter and Christmas and when a new Pope has been elected.
"Urbi et orbi" is aimed at the city of Rome, whose bishop is the Pope, and at the globe, that is, the world.
Pope worried about situation in Lebanon
On Christmas Eve, the Pope also addressed the people of Lebanon with a message.
In it he expressed concern about the situation in the coastal country.
It is painful to see that people are being robbed of their longing to live in peace, wrote the Pope to the Patriarch of the Syrian-Maronite Church of Antioch, Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï.
The Maronites are among the largest Christian religious communities in Lebanon.
Francis urged political and religious leaders to serve their country and nation rather than their own gain.
"Let us help Lebanon to stay away from conflicts and tensions in the region," declared the head of the Catholic Church.
In his letter, the 84-year-old also thought of the many young people "who are deprived of hope for a better future" and hoped to visit the people in Lebanon "as soon as possible".
After a huge explosion in the port of the Lebanese capital Beirut in August, Francis last called in September for international support for the reconstruction in Lebanon and demanded global aid for the crisis country in the Middle East.
In another message shared with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, religious dignitaries expressed their desire to visit South Sudan.
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ene / AFP / dpa