Pope Francis: Christmas Message Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World)
December 25, 2022
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CWN Editor's Note: “If we want it to be Christmas, the Birth of Jesus and of peace, let us look to Bethlehem and contemplate the face of the Child who is born for us,” Pope Francis said in his Urbi et Orbi message, delivered to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Christmas Day (video). “And in that small and innocent face, let us see the faces of all those children who, everywhere in the world, long for peace.”
“Let us also see the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who are experiencing this Christmas in the dark and cold, far from their homes due to the devastation caused by ten months of war,” he continued. “May the Lord inspire us to offer concrete gestures of solidarity to assist all those who are suffering, and may he enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the thunder of weapons and put an immediate end to this senseless war!”
After referring to conflicts in Syria, the Holy Land, Lebanon, the Sahel, Yemen, and elsewhere, the Pope said, “Bethlehem shows us the simplicity of God, who reveals himself not to the wise and the intelligent but to the little ones, to those with a pure and open heart. Like the shepherds, let us too set out in haste and allow ourselves to be amazed by the unthinkable event of God who becomes man for our salvation.”
“He, the source of all good, makes himself poor, asking as alms our own poor humanity,” Pope Francis concluded. “Let us allow ourselves to be deeply moved by the love of God. And let us follow Jesus, who stripped himself of his glory in order to give us a share in his fullness.”
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