Pope calls for nations to overcome divisions

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

Pope Francis acknowledges visitors before delivering the annual Urbi et Orbi (Latin for ‘to the city and to the world’) Christmas blessing at the Vatican on Wednesday. ANDREW MEDICHINI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Image

By Silvia Stellacci and Colleen Barry

The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY >> 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,” 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, which he opened on Christmas Eve to launch the 2025 Jubilee, as representing God’s mercy, which he said tears down walls of division and dispels hatred.

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, as well as Lebanon and Syria. Francis repeated his calls for the release of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

Pilgrims were lined up on Christmas Day to walk through the great Holy Door at the entrance of St. Peter’s as the Jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome. Traversing the Holy Door is one way that the faithful can obtain indulgences, or forgiveness for sins during a Jubilee, a once-every-quarter-century tradition that dates from 1300.

“You feel so humble when you go through the door, that once you go through it is almost like a release, a release of emotions,” said Blanca Martin, a pilgrim from San Diego. “You feel like now you are able to let go and put everything in the hands of God. See, I am getting emotional. It’s just a beautiful experience.”

Pilgrims submitted to security controls, amid new safety concerns following a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany.

A Chrismukkah miracle as Hanukkah and Christmas coincide

Hanukkah, Judaism’s eight-day Festival of Lights, begins this year on Christmas Day, which has only happened four times since 1900.