Pope Francis delivered his traditional Christmas message, calling for peace and reconciliation in a world plagued by conflict. He dedicated the 2025 Holy Year to hope and urged people to become pilgrims of hope, silencing the sounds of arms and overcoming divisions.
Published: Dec. 25, 2024, 7:28 a.m. Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Wednesday urged “all people of all nations” to find courage during this Holy Year “to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions” plaguing the world, from the Middle East to Ukraine, Africa to Asia. The pontiff’s “Urbi et Orbi” — “To the City and the World” — address serves as a summary of the woes facing the world this year.
As Christmas coincided with the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that he dedicated to hope, Francis called for broad reconciliation, “even (with) our enemies.” “I invite every individual, and all people of all nations ... to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions,’’ the pope said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to throngs of people below. The pope invoked the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, which he opened on Christmas Eve to launch the 2025 Jubilee, as representing God’s mercy, which “unties every knot; it tears down every wall of division; it dispels hatred and the spirit of revenge.” Faithful walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024, after it was opened by Pope Francis on Christmas Eve, marking the start of the Catholic 2025 Jubilee. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)He called for arms to be silenced 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 extremely grave,” as well as Lebanon and Syria “at this most delicate time”
Pope Francis Christmas Holy Year Peace Reconciliation
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