Jesus identifies with suffering of Gaza, unemployed, migrants and prisoners, says Pope at Urbi et Orbi

‘In becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us,’ said Pope Leo XIV in his message on Christmas Day.

The Pope addressed the “city and the world” from the central loggia of St Peter’s on Christmas morning. He said Jesus identifies with “those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people.

“With those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent; with those who have lost their jobs and those who are looking for work, like so many young people who struggle to find employment; with those who are exploited, like many underpaid workers; with those in prison, who often live in inhumane conditions.”

The Pope emphasised at the start of his address that “the Lord’s birth is the birth of peace”: “The announcement of Bethlehem resounds in the Church: the Child born of the Virgin Mary is Christ the Lord, sent by the Father to save us from sin and death. Indeed, he is our peace; he has conquered hatred and enmity through God’s merciful love.”

He said that Jesus’ grace can enable us all to build peace: “Jesus Christ is our peace first of all because he frees us from sin, and also because he shows us the way to overcome conflicts – all conflicts, whether interpersonal or international.

“Without a heart freed from sin, a heart that has been forgiven, we cannot be men and women of peace or builders of peace. This is why Jesus was born in Bethlehem and died on the cross: to free us from sin. He is the Saviour. With his grace, we can and must each do our part to reject hatred, violence and opposition, and to practice dialogue, peace and reconciliation.”

He said that each of us have a part to play and must start with ourselves to transform the world: “Responsibility is the sure way to peace. If all of us, at every level, would stop accusing others and instead acknowledge our own faults, asking God for forgiveness, and if we would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change.”

The Pope reflected then on the needs of the different regions of the world. He recalled his visit to the Middle East and prayed for “justice, peace and stability for Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria” and also that “the clamour of weapons may cease” in Ukraine.

He asked God to inspire the continent of Europe with “a spirit of community and cooperation, in fidelity to its Christian roots and history, and in solidarity with – and acceptance of – those in need”.

He prayed for “peace and consolation for the victims of all current wars in the world, especially those that are forgotten, and for those who suffer due to injustice, political instability, religious persecution and terrorism”, mentioning Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Latin America, Haiti, Thailand and Cambodia in particular.

He invited “everyone to renew, with heartfelt conviction, our shared commitment to assisting those who suffer” and on the holy day of Christmas to “open our hearts to our brothers and sisters who are in need or in pain”.

“In doing so,” Pope Leo said, “we open our hearts to the Child Jesus, who welcomes us with open arms and reveals his divinity to us: ‘But to all who received him … he gave power to become children of God’.”

Preaching in St Peter’s at the Mass during the night the previous evening, Pope Leo cited a homily of Benedict XVI to emphasise “that on earth, there is no room for God if there is no room for the human person”.

“To refuse one is to refuse the other,” he said. “Yet, where there is room for the human person, there is room for God: even a stable can become more sacred than a temple, and the womb of the Virgin Mary become the Ark of the New Covenant.”

The gospel’s “heavenly host” (Luke 2:13), he said, “are unarmed and disarming hosts, for they sing of the glory of God, of which peace on earth is the true manifestation”. On Tuesday, the Pope had decried Russia’s refusal of a Christmas truce in Ukraine and asked for “one full day of peace throughout the world”.

Calling Christmas “a love story that draws us in”, Leo said in his homily that God “sends one who is defenceless to be the strength to rise again” for the suffering poor. 

“While a distorted economy leads us to treat human beings as mere merchandise, God becomes like us, revealing the infinite dignity of every person. While humanity seeks to become ‘god’ in order to dominate others, God chooses to become man in order to free us from every form of slavery. Will this love be enough to change our history?”

In his homily on St John’s gospel at the Mass during the day, the Pope said: “Becoming children of God is a true power – one that remains buried so long as we keep our distance from the cry of children and the frailty of the elderly, from the helpless silence of victims and the resigned melancholy of those who do the evil they do not want.”

The Word of God “has pitched his fragile tent among us”, he continued: “How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold, and of those of so many other refugees and displaced persons on every continent, or of the makeshift shelters of thousands of homeless people in our own cities?

“Fragile is the flesh of defenceless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds. Fragile are the minds and lives of young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.”

Christmas, he said, “gives fresh impetus to a missionary Church, urging her onto the paths that the Word of God has traced for her”.

“This is the renewal that the Second Vatican Council promoted, which will bear fruit only if we walk together with the whole of humanity, never separating ourselves from it. The opposite is worldliness: to have oneself at the centre.

“The movement of the Incarnation is a dynamic of conversation.  There will be peace when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other.”

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