In his traditional Christmas message on Wednesday, Pope Francis urged “all peoples of all nations” to find courage during this Holy Year to “silence the voices of arms and overcome the divisions” plaguing the world, from the Middle East to Ukraine, from Africa to Asia.
The Pope’s “Urbi et Orbi” speech – “To the City and the World” – is a summary of the woes facing the world this year. While Christmas coincided with the beginning of the celebration of the Holy Year 2025, which he dedicated to hope, Francis called for widespread reconciliation, “even (with) our enemies.”
“I call on every individual and all people of all nations… to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the voices of weapons and to overcome divisions,” the pope said from the portico of St. Peter’s Basilica to crowds of people below.
The Pope recalled the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, which he opened on Christmas Eve to mark the inauguration of the Jubilee of 2025, as representing God’s mercy that “unties every knot; Breaking down every wall of division. “It dispels hatred and the spirit of revenge.”
He called for silencing the weapons in war-torn Ukraine and in the Middle East, singling out Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, “particularly in Gaza where the humanitarian situation is very serious,” as well as in Lebanon and Syria. “This is the most sensitive time.”
Francis reiterated his calls for the hostages taken by Hamas to be released from Israel on October 7, 2023.
He pointed to the outbreak of deadly measles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the suffering of the people of Myanmar, who were forced to flee their homes due to the “ongoing clash of arms.” The Pope also remembered children suffering from war and hunger, the elderly living in isolation, those who fled their homelands, those who lost their jobs, and those who were persecuted for their faith.
Pilgrims lined up on Christmas Day to walk through the Great Holy Door at the entrance to St Peter’s Basilica, where the jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome.
Crossing the Holy Door is one way believers can receive absolution or forgiveness of sins during the Jubilee, a tradition that occurs once every quarter century and dates back to the year 1300.
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The pilgrims were subjected to security supervision before entering the Holy Door, amid new security concerns following the bloody attack on the Christmas market in Germany. Many stopped to touch the door as they passed and made the sign of the cross as they entered the cathedral dedicated to St. Peter, the founder of the Roman Catholic Church.
“You’re very humbling when you walk in the door, and once you walk through it’s an emotional release,” said Blanca Martin, a pilgrim from San Diego. “…It’s almost like a release of emotions, you feel like now you’re able to let go of everything and put everything in God’s hands. You see I’m getting emotional. It’s just a beautiful experience.”
The Christmas miracle coincides with Hanukkah and Christmas
Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, begins this year on Christmas Day, which has happened only four times since 1900.
The confluence of calendars has inspired some religious leaders to host interfaith gatherings, such as a Hanukkah party last week hosted by several Jewish organizations in Houston, Texas, which brought together members of the city’s Latino and Jewish communities for a traditional Chanukah potato pancake. Topped with guacamole and salsa.
While Hanukkah is intended to be an upbeat, celebratory holiday, rabbis point out that it is happening this year as wars rage in the Middle East and fears grow about widespread incidents of anti-Semitism. The holidays rarely overlap because the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles and does not coincide with the Gregorian calendar, which sets Christmas on December 25. The last time Hanukkah began on Christmas Day was in 2005.
Iraqi Christians continue in their faith
Christians of the Nineveh Plain attended Christmas Mass, Tuesday, in the Church of Saint George in the center of the city of Teleskaf, Iraq, amid security concerns about the future. We feel like they will pull the rug out from under our feet at any time. “Our fate is unknown here,” said Bayda Nadeem, a resident of Telskav.
Iraqi Christians, whose presence there dates back almost to the time of Christ, belong to a number of rituals and sects. They once constituted a large minority in Iraq, estimated at about 1.4 million people.
But the community has steadily dwindled since the US-led invasion in 2003, and then in 2014 when the Islamic State group overran the area. The exact number of Christians remaining in Iraq is unclear, but is believed to number several hundred thousand.
Germany’s celebrations were overshadowed by an attack on the markets
German celebrations were darkened by a car attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday, killing five people, including a 9-year-old boy, and wounding 200 others. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rewrote his recorded Christmas Day speech to address the attack, saying that “there is sadness, pain, horror and incomprehension about what happened in Magdeburg.” He urged Germans to “stand together” and that “hatred and violence must not have the last word.”
A 50-year-old Saudi doctor, who has been practicing medicine in Germany since 2006, was arrested on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm. Suspect X’s account describes him as a former Muslim and is full of anti-Islamic themes. He criticized the authorities for failing to combat the “Islamization of Germany” and expressed his support for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party.
Barry reported from Milan. Associated Press writers Melanie Liedman in Jerusalem, Rashid Yahya in Telskav, Iraq, and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this report.
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
