09:01
Pope: “Mourning for children devoured by wars”
“Children devoured by wars”: This is the Pope’s pain on Christmas Eve. Francis thinks of the Child of Bethlehem and asks us to take a look at the little ones. «This Christmas, too, a humanity insatiable for money, power and pleasure makes no room as it was for Jesus, for the little ones, for so many unborn, poor, forgotten children. I am thinking above all of the children devoured by wars, poverty and injustice. But Jesus comes right there, a child in the manger of waste and rejection. In him, child of Bethlehem, is every child. And it’s an invitation to look at life, politics and history through the eyes of children,” he said in his Christmas Eve sermon.
Pope Francis arrived at the Basilica in a wheelchair and appeared a little tired during the celebration, sometimes with a hoarse voice. Seven thousand faithful in the basilica and another three thousand to watch Mass from St. Peter’s Square on giant screens. This Christmas 2022, the Pope’s greatest concern is a peace struggling to make room in the world. Look at the manger in which Jesus chose to be born and associate the image with “pleasure.” Because while the animals in the stall eat food, the people of the world who are greedy for power and money also eat their neighbors, their brothers. How many wars!” commented Pope Francis.
And our thoughts must go to Ukraine, to which the Pope has dedicated dozens of appeals this year that is drawing to a close. Then a look at the poor: “We are called to be a church that worships the poor Jesus and serves Jesus in the poor,” recalls Pope Francis.
Of course, it’s not easy to leave the warm warmth of worldliness to embrace the naked beauty of Bethlehem’s Grotto, but let’s not forget that it’s not really Christmas without the poor. Without them we celebrate Christmas, but not that of Jesus. Brothers, sisters, at Christmas God is poor: may love be reborn!”.
Finally, the call to be concrete, for God’s love for mankind is “concrete.” «He who lies naked in the manger and will lie naked on the cross asks us for the truth, to go to the naked reality of things, to put excuses, justifications and hypocrisy at the foot of the manger. He, tenderly swaddled by Mary, wants us to clothe ourselves with love. God does not want appearances, but concreteness,” the Pope continued.
“Let us not let this Christmas go by – is Francis’ appeal – without doing something good”, “let us inspire a little hope in his name in those who have lost it”. Tomorrow, on Christmas Day, the Pope will give the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing, with thoughts on the areas of the planet that are suffering the most at this historic moment.