Message from the Vatican

Pope Francis prays in front of a statue of baby Jesus as he leads the Christmas night Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Pope offered a Christmas message on Friday of mitigated hope for an end to the world’s conflicts, backing recent accords on Syria and Libya and praising those who shelter migrants. Addressing tens of thousands of pilgrims in the sunny square, the Pope also decried “brutal acts of terrorism, particularly the recent massacres which took place in Egyptian airspace, in Beirut, Paris, Bamako and Tunis.” After a year that saw more than one million migrants reach Europe, Francis praised those who shelter them, asking God to “repay all those, both individuals and states, who generously work to provide assistance and welcome” to them. The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics also used the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) address to denounce the destruction of cultural heritage. Francis said Jesus “calls us to act soberly, in other words, in a way that is simple, balanced, consistent, capable of seeing and doing what is essential.” Referring to Jesus’ birth in a Bethlehem stable, the Pope said the child was “born into the poverty of this world; there was no room in the inn for him and his family.” Francis also sounded a cry to right injustices. “In a world which all too often is merciless to the sinner and lenient to the sin, we need to cultivate a strong sense of justice,” he said.