Christians most widely persecuted in the world today: Archbishop of Westminster urges prayers for the Middle East

The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, highlighted the plight of Christians in the Middle East in his homily for Midnight Mass at Westminster Cathedral in London on Christmas Eve. Read the full text below: Our Christmas Mass celebrates a simple yet astounding event – so simply expressed yet so radical in its reach. Tonight we celebrate God coming to his people. Tonight he comes to us, in the birth of Jesus, God-with-us. We gather as a people who fret and puzzle over the reality of God, at times resisting the invitation to believe and at times protesting against it. Yet here we see the coming of God into our midst, into our history, simply to be with us, a babe, without threat or coercion, just wanting to say "Here I am. Come to me." We find a description of ourselves in