Pope castigates wars in the world: think of the children!

Created: 2022-12-25Updated: 2022-12-25, 1:00 p.m

Pope Francis delivers the Christmas blessing "Urbi et Orbi" from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.

© Gregorio Borgia/AP/dpa

The wars in Ukraine and elsewhere overshadow Christmas.

Pope Francis pleads not to forget those in need - especially children - during these holidays.

Rome/Bethlehem - After a year full of conflicts and wars, Pope Francis called on the world in his Christmas message to do more for peace.

Under the impression of the bloody conflict in the Ukraine, the head of the Catholics especially remembered the suffering children.

He recognizes in the face of the newborn Jesus in the manger "the faces of children who yearn for peace in all parts of the world," said Francis from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.

He then bestowed the Urbi et Orbi blessing on the city and the world.

The Pope had already preached during Christmas Eve mass that the weak and poor were “the main sufferers of human greed”.

"I am thinking in particular of the children who are being devoured by war, poverty and injustice."

After two years of Corona, the pontifex celebrated Christmas mass again for the first time in a fully occupied Peters Basilica in front of around 7000 guests.

Today, St. Peter's Square was filled with tens of thousands of believers for Francis' Christmas message.

The celebrations in the Holy Land were also reminiscent of the time before the pandemic.

"Look into the faces of the Ukrainians!"

Francis lamented that "while the Prince of Peace is given to us, the winds of war continue to blow chillingly across humanity."

As in almost all of the Pope's speeches since the end of February, Ukraine also played an important role on the first holiday.

"May our eyes embrace the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who are experiencing this Christmas in the dark, in the cold or far from their homes - due to the destruction caused by ten months of war," Francis said.

In the Christmas mass the Pope had said: “People who are hungry for power and money in the world even consume their neighbors, their brothers and sisters.

How many wars are there!

And in how many places, even today, dignity and freedom are trampled underfoot!”

The pontiff also spoke of "other scenes of this third world war" and mentioned, for example, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, the Sahel, Iran and Myanmar.

He also asked not to forget refugees, the poor and those suffering from hunger in the world.

In the Holy Land, Christians warn of increasing violence

The Pope also thought "of the Holy Land, where violence and clashes have increased in recent months, with deaths and injuries".

There the Christmas celebrations had begun on Christmas Eve with the traditional procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.

This was led by the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa.

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At midnight mass in Bethlehem, Pizzaballa also warned of an increase in violence in the region.

"We see that violence has apparently become our main language, our primary mode of communication," he said during his address at the Catholic Church of St. Catherine next to the Church of the Nativity.

This year has seen "a terrible uptick in violence on Palestinian streets, with a death toll that has set us back decades."

It is a worrying sign of political tension and unease, particularly among youth, over the ongoing, unresolved conflict with Israel.

Pizzaballa also expressed concern about the formation of a right-wing religious government in Israel, which also includes right-wing extremist politicians. According to the Ministry of Health in Ramallah, 170 Palestinians have already been killed in clashes or their own attacks this year, more than at any time since 2006. dpa