Pope laments ‘terrible’ loss of life during Gaza war

Pope Francis focused his Christmas address on Monday on the violence in Israel and the war in Gaza, which had caused a “terrible” loss of civilian lives and brought “sorrow” to Bethlehem, traditionally seen as the birthplace of Jesus. release of Israeli hostages and an end to devastating military attacks.

Delivering its “Urbi and Orbi” – or “for the city and for the world” – Christmas blessing on the birth of Jesus as a symbol of peace, Francis, who turned 87 last week, spoke from a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica under gray clouds on an unusually warm day. Rome before a crowd of tens of thousands.

He advocated peace around the world, citing specific conflicts including in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Sudan and Ukraine, but it was the conflict in Gaza that was particularly central to his message.

“The eyes and hearts of Christians all over the world are turning to Bethlehem,” Francis said, drawing attention to “deep shadows covering the land.” He advocated peace “in Israel and Palestine, where war is destroying the lives of these peoples,” and said he “embraced them all, especially the Christian communities of Gaza, the parish of Gaza and the entire Holy Land.”

Francis’ comments amplified his message from the Christmas Eve midnight mass in St. Peter’s Basilica just hours earlier, where he declared that “our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once again rejected by the futile logic of war. ”

Continuing that theme in the Urbi et Orbi speech, he said his “heart grieves for the victims of the horrific attack” on October 7 and reiterated his “urgent call for the liberation of those still held hostage.”

At the same time, he urged Israel to withdraw from its campaign in Gaza, where the Health Ministry says the death toll recently surpassed 20,000, and aid groups say people are starving and being pushed to smaller parts of the enclave.

“I call for an end to military operations with their terrible harvest of innocent civilian victims,” the Pope said, “and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by opening an opening for the provision of humanitarian aid.”

Francis delivered the blessing amid a burst of activity from the church, including his recent decisions to allow priests to bless same-sex couples and his crackdown on dissenting prelates who have tried to undermine his mission to restore the church more pastoral and less rigid.

But diplomatic efforts in war and peace outside his control have had little success, clearly frustrating a pope who has relentlessly called for peace, especially in the Holy Land.

“May the stirring up of violence and hatred come to an end. And may the Palestinian issue be resolved through a sincere and persistent dialogue between the parties, backed by strong political will and the support of the international community,” Francis said on Monday. He recalled that according to the New Testament, Jesus’ birth “was followed by the slaughter of the innocent.”

“How many innocents are being slaughtered in our world!” Francis asked, expanding the list of victims to include aborted fetuses, immigrants and war children. “In the womb of their mothers, in odysseys undertaken in despair and in search of hope, in the lives of all those little ones whose childhoods were destroyed by war.”

On the arms trade, a frequent target of his criticism, Francis urged the faithful to say no “to the mentality of war” and called it “an aimless journey.”

“If we find instruments of death in our hands, sooner or later we will use them,” he added. “And how can we even talk about peace when the production, sale and trade of weapons increases?”

He lamented that the poor were often left in the dark about the money used to purchase weapons that could be spent on feeding the needy. “They need to know that!” he said.

Francis also prayed for peace in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. He urged the world to commemorate the conflicts in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, Sudan and Cameroon, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, two countries he visited as a serious, if not successful, peacemaker .

He spoke again about Ukraine, a frequent topic of his prayers, and urged the faithful to “renew our spiritual and human bond with the embattled people.”

He also called for easing tensions and reconciliation between North Korea and South Korea, and discussed the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, where he called for the safe and legal return of refugees to their homes, and ensuring respect for religious traditions and places of worship on both sides.

And in America, a part of the world dear to the Argentine Pope, he expressed hope that the Christmas message of peace would inspire politicians “to resolve social and political conflicts, to fight forms of poverty that undermine the dignity of people to tackle inequality and the disturbing phenomenon of migration movements.”

He said it is the responsibility of Christians to be the voice for the voiceless, including those who “risk their lives on grueling journeys and fall prey to unscrupulous traffickers.” Preparing for the Holy Year in 2025, he said, was “an opportunity for the conversion of hearts, for the rejection of war and the embrace of peace.”