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.
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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”.
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”.
Francis repeated his calls for the release of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
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He cited a deadly outbreak of measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the suffering of the people of Myanmar, forced to flee their homes by “the ongoing clash of arms”. The pope likewise remembered children suffering from war and hunger, the elderly living in solitude, those fleeing their homelands, who have lost their jobs, and are persecuted for their faith.