Pope Francis has kicked off world Christmas celebrations with a lament – that Jesus’s message of peace is being drowned out by the “futile logic of warfare” within the very land he was born.
Israel’s deadliest-ever warfare on Gaza solid a shadow because the pontiff presided over the night Mass on Sunday, attended by 6,500 folks at St Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican.
“Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, the place the Prince of Peace is as soon as extra rejected by the futile logic of warfare, by the conflict of arms that even as we speak prevents him from discovering room on the planet,” mentioned the Catholic chief.
The 87-year-old pontiff mentioned the actual message of Christmas is peace and love, urging folks to not be obsessive about worldly success and the “idolatry of consumerism”.
He spoke of “the all-too-human thread that runs via historical past: the search for worldly energy and would possibly, fame and glory, which measures every part by way of success, outcomes, numbers and figures, a world obsessive about achievement”.
“Tonight, love modifications historical past,” he mentioned, draped in white robes.
Bethlehem, the biblical metropolis within the occupied West Financial institution the place Christians consider Jesus Christ was born in a manger greater than 2,000 years in the past, successfully cancelled the annual Christmas celebrations that usually draw hundreds of vacationers.
The city did away with its big Christmas tree, marching bands and flamboyant nativity scene this yr, settling for only a few festive lights.
Within the centre of city, an enormous Palestinian flag has been unfolded with a banner declaring, “The bells of Bethlehem ring for a ceasefire in Gaza.”
“Lots of people are dying for this land,” mentioned Nicole Najjar, an 18-year-old pupil. “It’s actually exhausting to rejoice whereas our persons are dying.”
Francis spoke hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to struggle deeper into the Palestinian enclave of Gaza after his troops endured one of many worst days of losses of their floor warfare.
The Well being Ministry in Gaza mentioned an Israeli assault late on Sunday killed at the least 70 folks within the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza and destroyed a number of homes.
A complete of at the least 20,424 folks, most of them ladies and youngsters, have been killed within the enclave because the warfare started, in keeping with the territory’s Well being Ministry.
“Bethlehem is celebrating Christmas with unhappiness and sorrow due to what’s taking place in Gaza and in all of the West Financial institution, all Palestinian territories,” mentioned Palestinian Minister of Tourism Rula Maayah.
The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, arrived on Sunday on the Church of the Nativity, clad in a conventional black and white keffiyeh.
“Our coronary heart goes to Gaza, to all folks in Gaza however a particular consideration to our Christian neighborhood in Gaza who’s struggling,” he mentioned.
“We’re right here to wish and to ask not just for a ceasefire, a ceasefire isn’t sufficient… violence generates solely violence.”
Francis has made quite a few appeals for a ceasefire within the battle raging in Gaza and has referred to as for the discharge of all captives.
When the Christmas Eve Mass ended, the pope, pushed in a wheelchair, moved down the basilica with the life-sized statue of child Jesus on his lap and flanked by youngsters carrying bouquets.
The statue was positioned in a manger in a nativity scene within the basilica.
At midday (11:00 GMT) on Monday, Francis will ship his Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” (to town and the world) message and blessing.
