He asked this Wednesday in his Christmas message to silence the weapons in Ukraine and to “have the audacity to open negotiations for a just peace” and for Gaza to “cease fire, free the hostages and help the exhausted population.” by hunger and war.”
On the balcony of the central loggia of the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis, as usual in his Christmas message, reflected on the conflicts and evils that affect the world before the nearly 30,000 people who came to St. Peter’s Square. .
“Let the weapons fall silent in the martyred Ukraine. May there be the audacity to open the door to negotiations and gestures of dialogue and encounter, to reach a just and lasting peace,” said the pope.
And he continued: “Let the weapons fall silent in the Middle East. With my eyes fixed on the cradle of Bethlehem, I direct my thoughts to the Christian communities of Israel and Palestine, in particular to Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is very serious.”
“Let the fire cease, the hostages be released and the population exhausted by hunger and war be helped,” added the pontiff, sitting in a chair on the balcony of the central lodge.
And he assured that he also carries “in his heart the Christian community of Lebanon, especially in the south, and that of Syria, in this very delicate moment” and encouraged the search for solutions that allow national reconciliation in Libya.
“May the doors of dialogue and peace be opened throughout the region, torn by conflict.” he added.
which is celebrated every 25 years, and hoped that it would help “to reconcile with ourselves, with each other, even with our enemies.”
“This Christmas, the beginning of the Jubilee Year, I invite all people, all peoples and nations to muster up the courage to cross the Door, to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the weapons and overcome the divisions.”
In his message, the pope also asked “that the birth of the Savior bring a time of hope to the families of thousands of children who are dying from the measles epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as to the populations of the east.” of that country and those of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Mozambique”.
He also called for peace for the countries of the Horn of Africa and “access for Sudan’s civilian population to humanitarian aid and launching new negotiations with the aim of a ceasefire.”
“May the Child Jesus inspire the political authorities and all people of good will on the American continent, in order to find effective solutions in truth and justice as soon as possible, to promote social harmony, particularly in Haiti, Venezuela , Colombia and Nicaragua,” the pope also requested in his message.
“He did not forget the inhabitants of Myanmar, who, due to continuous armed clashes, suffer great suffering and are forced to flee their homes.”
And I hope that “the Jubilee will be an occasion to tear down all the walls of separation: the ideological ones, which so often mark political life, and the material ones, such as the division that has affected the island of Cyprus for fifty years and that has lacerated the human and social fabric”.
The pope also remembered “all the children who suffer from war and hunger” “the elderly, often forced to live in conditions of loneliness and abandonment” “those who have lost their own home or flee their land, trying to find a safe refuge”, “to those who have lost or cannot find work” and “to those imprisoned who, despite everything, remain children of God”.
Francis also took advantage of the occasion to ask “that the Jubilee be the occasion to forgive debts, especially those that burden the poorest countries.”
And he concluded by wishing everyone “a serene and holy Christmas” and imparting the ‘Urbi et Orbi’ blessing.
