7,000 faithful followed the Pope’s speech in St. Peter’s Basilica, about 3,000 people in front of the basilica.
Under the impact of wars and conflicts in the world, Pope Francis opened this year’s Christmas celebrations with a Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. The head of Catholics chastised the bloody clashes – the war in Ukraine in particular caused horror in 2022. In the Holy Land, Christians from all over the world celebrated the traditional Christmas procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
At the same time, the pontiff defended not running after material things at Christmas, but taking care of charity. After the corona pandemic only allowed limited services at the Vatican on Christmas 2020 and 2021, St. Peter’s Basilica was full again this time on Christmas Eve. According to the Holy See, around 7,000 faithful were in the basilica, and around 3,000 people also followed the mass outside in St. Peter’s Square.
“How many wars are there”
The Pope used the sermon to condemn wars: “People who are hungry for power and money consume even their neighbors, their brothers and sisters in the world. How many wars there are! And in how many places even today dignity and freedom are trampled under foot !” However, he did not directly mention the war in Ukraine in his sermon.
Francis called the weak and poor the “chief sufferers of human greed”. The 86-year-old, who attended the service almost always sitting next to the altar because of a pain in his knee, said: “Also this Christmas, a humanity that fights insatiably for money, power and pleasure does not give space to the little ones, for the many unborn, poor, forgotten, as was the case of Jesus. I am thinking especially of the children who are being swallowed up by war, poverty and injustice”.
“Sterile Beauty of the Cave of Belém”
Jesus was born without luxury and comfort – but as a result “the true richness of life appeared”, that is, interpersonal relationships, as Francis emphasized. “Of course, it is not easy to leave the pleasant warmth of worldliness to embrace the austere beauty of the Gruta de Belém”, he preached. “But we must remember that without the poor there is no real Christmas. Christmas is celebrated without them, but not the Christmas of Jesus.”
The traditional Christmas procession had already driven like a wagon train from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on Saturday afternoon. The head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, walked the last part of the way to Manger Square in Bethlehem. There he was received by Christian representatives.
Tens of thousands of visitors are expected.
Unlike the last two years of Corona, tens of thousands of visitors are expected over the Christmas holidays. Israel’s Ministry of Tourism is prepared for around 120,000 pilgrims.
In their Christmas message, representatives of various churches in the Holy Land complained about increased attacks on Christians and discrimination. Young Christians no longer felt welcome in the land of their ancestors and many of them left the region, he said. Therefore, the proportion of Christians continued to fall.
Of the estimated five million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, less than two percent are Christian. According to the latest information from the Israel Bureau of Statistics, around 185,000 Arab Christians live in Israel, representing about 1.9% of the population. Israel has about 9.6 million inhabitants, three-quarters of them Jewish.
(APA)