Pope Leo XIV gestures connected the time of delivering the accepted Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi code to the metropolis and the satellite from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica astatine the Vatican, connected Dec. 25, 2025.
Simone Risoluti | Via Reuters
Pope Leo XIV, during his archetypal Christmas Day connection connected Thursday, urged the faithful to shed indifference successful the look of those who person mislaid everything, similar successful Gaza, those who are successful poverty, similar successful Yemen, and the galore migrants who transverse the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent for a amended future.
The archetypal U.S. pontiff addressed immoderate 26,000 radical from the loggia overlooking St. Peter's Square for the accepted papal "Urbi et Orbi'' address, Latin for "To the City and to the World,'' which serves arsenic a summary of the woes facing the world.
While the assemblage gathered nether a dependable downpour during the papal Mass wrong St. Peter's Basilica, the rainfall had subsided by the clip Leo took a little circuit of the quadrate successful the popemobile, past spoke to the assemblage from the loggia.
Leo revived the contented of offering Christmas greetings successful aggregate languages abandoned by his predecessor, Pope Francis. He received particularly lukewarm cheers erstwhile helium made his greetings successful his autochthonal English and Spanish, the connection of his adopted state of Peru wherever helium served archetypal arsenic a missionary and past arsenic archbishop.
Someone successful the assemblage shouted retired "Viva il papa!'' oregon "Long unrecorded the pope!'' earlier helium retreated into the basilica. Leo took disconnected his glasses for a last wave.
Leo surveys the world's distress
During the accepted address, the pope emphasized that everyone could lend to bid by acting with humility and responsibility.
"If helium would genuinely participate into the suffering of others and basal successful solidarity with the anemic and the oppressed, past the satellite would change,'' the pope said.
Leo called for "justice, bid and stability" successful Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria, prayers for "the tormented radical of Ukraine,'' and "peace and consolation" for victims of wars, injustice, governmental stability, spiritual persecution and terrorism, citing Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Congo.
The pope besides urged dialog to code "numerous challenges" successful Latin America, reconciliation successful Myanmar, the restoration of "the past relationship betwixt Thailand and Cambodia,'' and assistance for the suffering of those deed by earthy disasters successful South Asia and Oceania.
"In becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each 1 of us: with those who person thing near and person mislaid everything, similar the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, similar the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to question a aboriginal elsewhere, similar the galore refugees and migrants who transverse the Mediterranean oregon traverse the American continent,'' the pontiff said.
He besides remembered those who person mislaid their jobs oregon are seeking work, particularly young people, underpaid workers and those successful prison.
Peace done dialogue
Earlier, Leo led the Christmas Day Mass from the cardinal altar beneath the balustrade of St. Peter's Basilica, adorned with floral garlands and clusters of reddish poinsettias. White flowers were acceptable astatine the feet of a statue of Mary, parent of Jesus, whose commencement is celebrated connected Christmas Day.
In his homily, Leo underlined that bid tin look lone done dialogue.
"There volition beryllium bid erstwhile our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we autumn to our knees earlier the humanity of the other," helium said.
He remembered the radical of Gaza, "exposed for weeks to rain, upwind and cold" and the fragility of "defenseless populations, tried by truthful galore wars,'' and of "young radical forced to instrumentality up arms, who connected the beforehand lines consciousness the senselessness of what is asked of them, and the falsehoods that capable the pompous speeches of those who nonstop them to their deaths.''
Thousands of radical packed the basilica for the pope's archetypal Christmas Day Mass, holding their smartphones aloft to seizure images of the opening procession.
This Christmas play marks the winding down of the Holy Year celebrations, which volition adjacent connected Jan. 6, the Catholic Epiphany vacation marking the sojourn of the 3 omniscient men to the babe Jesus successful Bethlehem.
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