Photo: Portal.
Pope Francis called for efforts to “manage the political and social tensions affecting various countries of the Americas” this Sunday in the Christmas message delivered from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica before the Urbi et Otbi blessing.
He asked the Child Jesus to “inspire the political authorities and all people of good will in the Americas to strive for the pacification of the political and social tensions affecting different countries; I am thinking in particular of the Haitian people who have been suffering for a long time”.
And before the tens of thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter’s Square, he made a special mention of “the Haitian people who have been suffering for a long time”.
He also invited to overcome “the lethargy of spiritual sleep and the false images of the party that make us forget who is being honored. Let us get out of the rush that numbs the heart and leads us to prepare decorations and gifts instead of contemplating the event : the Son of God who was born for us.”
And he lamented that “the same negative passions that prevented King Herod and his court from acknowledging and welcoming the birth of Jesus: attachment to power and money, pride, hypocrisy, lies” exist now.
“Indeed, it is with pain that we realize that at the same time that the Prince of Peace is being given to us, the harsh winds of war continue to blow over humanity,” he added.
He referred to the “insane” war in Ukraine and recalled the conflicts in Yemen, Syria, the Middle East and the famine in Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa countries.
(With information from EFE)