Pope Leo
Leo, America’s first pope, said the story of Jesus being born in a stable showed that God had “pitched his frail tent” among the people of the world.
“How, then, can we not think about the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold?” he asked.
Celebrating his first Christmas after being elected in May by cardinals to succeed Pope Francis, he has a calmer, more diplomatic style than his predecessor and generally refrains from making political references in his sermons.
In a later Christmas blessing, the pope, who made caring for immigrants a key theme of his early work, also lamented the plight of migrants and refugees who “cross the North American continent.”
Leo XIV, who in the past has criticized US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration did not mention it. In a Christmas Eve sermon this Wednesday, he said that refusing to help the poor and foreigners is the same as rejecting God himself.
“Open wounds” of war
The pontiff has lamented the conditions of Palestinians in Gaza several times recently and told journalists last month that the only solution to the decades-old conflict must include the creation of a Palestinian state.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in October, after two years of intense Israeli bombing and military operations that followed an attack by Hamas-led fighters on Israeli communities in October 2023. Aid agencies say there is still very little aid reaching Gaza, where almost the entire population is displaced.
At Thursday’s service with thousands of people in St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo XIV also lamented the conditions of the homeless around the world and the destruction caused by war.
“Fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds,” the pope said. “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,” he said.
Conflicts in Ukraine, Thailand and Cambodia
In an appeal during the message and blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (For the City and the World) given by the Pope at Christmas and Easter, Leo called for an end to all global wars.
Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to thousands of people in the square, he lamented the political, social or military conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, Mali, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia, among other countries.
Leão said people in Ukraine have been “tormented” by violence.
“May the clamor of arms cease, and may the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue,” he said.
For Thailand and Cambodia, where border fighting is in its third week, with at least 80 dead, Leão called for the nations’ “ancient friendship” to be restored, “to work towards reconciliation and peace.”.
*Reproduction of this content is prohibited.
