Vatican City, Dec 25, 2017 / 09:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Christmas day said the commemoration of Christ’s birth is an occasion to remember and pray for every child who suffers due to war, poverty and inequality, each of whom bear the face of Jesus.
“Today, as the winds of war are blowing in our world and an outdated model of development continues to produce human, societal and environmental decline, Christmas invites us to focus on the sign of the Child and to recognize him in the faces of little children, especially those for whom, like Jesus, there is no place in the inn,” the Pope said Dec. 25, on Christmas day.
Jesus, he said, was not born as a result of man’s will, “but by the gift of the love of God our Father.”
“The faith of the Christian people relives in the Christmas liturgy the mystery of the God who comes, who assumes our mortal human flesh, and who becomes lowly and poor in order to save us,” he said, adding that “this moves us deeply, for great is the tenderness of our Father.”
Speaking to the 50,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing, the Pope noted that this tenderness is expressed in a special way to children who suffer from all the various conflicts in the world.
From the Holy Land to Venezuela, from the Middle East to Africa and Ukraine, he pointed to various conflicts happening around the world and offered prayers for peace in each region marred by war, violence and poverty.
He prayed that peaceful dialogue would be taken up again in Israel and Palestine so that the two parties can negotiate a solution to their conflict “that would allow the peaceful coexistence of two States within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders.”
Francis also prayed for children with unemployed parents and for those forced to migrate alone to other countries, leaving them vulnerable to traffickers.
“Through their eyes we see the drama of all those forced to emigrate and risk their lives to face exhausting journeys that end at times in tragedy,” he said, adding that “Jesus knows well the pain of not being welcomed and how hard it is not to have a place to lay one’s head. May our hearts not be closed as they were in the homes of Bethlehem.”
Pope Francis closed his address praying that like Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds, we would also “welcome in the Baby Jesus the love of God made man for us. And may we commit ourselves, with the help of his grace, to making our world more human and more worthy for the children of today and of the future.”
Please read below for the full text of Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi address:
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy Christmas!
In Bethlehem, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. He was born, not by the will of man, but by the gift of the love of God our Father, who “so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
This event is renewed today in the Church, a pilgrim in time. For the faith of the Christian people relives in the Christmas liturgy the mystery of the God who comes, who assumes our mortal human flesh, and who becomes lowly and poor in order to save us. And this moves us deeply, for great is the tenderness of our Father.
The first people to see the humble glory of the Saviour, after Mary and Joseph, were the shepherds of Bethlehem. They recognized the sign proclaimed to them by the angels and adored the Child. Those humble and watchful men are an example for believers of every age who, before the mystery of Jesus, are not scandalized by his poverty. Rather, like Mary, they trust in God’s word and contemplate his glory with simple eyes. Before the mystery of the Word made flesh, Christians in every place confess with the words of the Evangelist John: “We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14).
Today, as the winds of war are blowing in our world and an outdated model of development continues to produce human, societal and environmental decline, Christmas invites us to focus on the sign of the Child and to recognize him in the faces of little children, especially those for whom, like Jesus, “there is no place in the inn” (Lk 2:7).
We see Jesus in the children of the Middle East who continue to suffer because of growing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. On this festive day, let us ask the Lord for peace for Jerusalem and for all the Holy Land. Let us pray that the will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached, one that would allow the peaceful coexistence of two States within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders. May the Lord also sustain the efforts of all those in the international community inspired by good will to help that afflicted land to find, despite grave obstacles the harmony, justice and security that it has long awaited.
We see Jesus in the faces of Syrian children still marked by the war that, in these years, has caused such bloodshed in that country. May beloved Syria at last recover respect for the dignity of every person through a shared commitment to rebuild the fabric of society, without regard for ethnic and religious membership. We see Jesus in the children of Iraq, wounded and torn by the conflicts that country has experienced in the last fifteen years, and in the children of Yemen, where there is an ongoing conflict that has been largely forgotten, with serious humanitarian implications for its people, who suffer from hunger and the spread of diseases.
We see Jesus in the children of Africa, especially those who are suffering in South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Nigeria.
We see Jesus in the children worldwide wherever peace and security are threatened by the danger of tensions and new conflicts. Let us pray that confrontation may be overcome on the Korean peninsula and that mutual trust may increase in the interest of the world as a whole. To the Baby Jesus we entrust Venezuela that it may resume a serene dialogue among the various elements of society for the benefit of all the beloved Venezuelan people. We see Jesus in children who, together with their families, suffer from the violence of the conflict in Ukraine and its grave humanitarian repercussions; we pray that the Lord may soon grant peace to this dear country.
We see Jesus in the children of unemployed parents who struggle to offer their children a secure and peaceful future. And in those whose childhood has been robbed and who, from a very young age, have been forced to work or to be enrolled as soldiers by unscrupulous mercenaries.
We see Jesus in the many children forced to leave their countries to travel alone in inhuman conditions and who become an easy target for human traffickers. Through their eyes we see the drama of all those forced to emigrate and risk their lives to face exhausting journeys that end at times in tragedy. I see Jesus again in the children I met during my recent visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh, and it is my hope that the international community will not cease to work to ensure that the dignity of the minority groups present in the region is adequately protected. Jesus knows well the pain of not being welcomed and how hard it is not to have a place to lay one’s head. May our hearts not be closed as they were in the homes of Bethlehem.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, The sign of Christmas has also been revealed to us: “a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes” (Lk 2:12). Like the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, like the shepherds of Bethlehem, may we welcome in the Baby Jesus the love of God made man for us. And may we commit ourselves, with the help of his grace, to making our world more human and more worthy for the children of today and of the future.
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“After his 2017 remark generated controversy, a spokesman for Sosa told the Catholic Herald that ‘like all Catholics, Father Sosa professes and teaches what the Church professes and teaches. He does not hold a set of beliefs separate from what is contained in the doctrine of the Catholic Church.’”
Yes, a Jesuit needs a spokesman (“Mop up in aisle 3!”)…the way Bergoglio remains mystically “silent” until a spokesman or the press… It’s tiresome already, no longer “on the margins” or “on the cutting edge.” It’s passe…which is one of the reasons people are leaving the Church like crazy…especially millennials who don’t care about aging homosexuals forever nodding towards the 1970’s and their “brilliance.”
Sosa: one well-fed Venezuelan…unlike those Venezuelans he “accompanies.” Nonsense…and yes, heresy.
And the Devil rejoices…though he is filled with hatred for humanity and joyless.
It’s entirely plausible that Lucifer currently manifests himself as superior general of the Society of Jesus.
Does now Bishop Barron still believe that Adam the not really exist?
Yes, Bishop Barron has proved a disappointment to me. I liked him when he was plain Fr. Barron.
What does Bishop Barron have to do with this article? He is not mentioned.
I think Fr Sosa should visit Auschwitz, Dachau, Sebrenica, The sites of the Rwandan Genocide, survivors of the Cambodian genocide, Sierra Leonians who had their limbs hacked off by the RUF, and survivors of the atrocities committed by ISIS before concluding there is no Devil. Surely these, as well as the horrors perpetrated in his native Venezuela by the Maduro regime, is sufficient proof of the existence of a malevolent, pure chaotic evil?
Im glad to see this publication.There are too many agnostics and atheists in the world today who continue to corrupt our young people and even the “mature” among us with their perverted philosophy. These people are nearly as dangerous as Satan himself, because they are his agents.
Regarding the Illuminati-Jesuit head honcho, so-so Sosa and the recently discovered non-existence of Satan, we have this (instead) from St. Faustina, the first declared saint for our betrayed 21st Century. Faustina’s vote offsets Sosa’s vote, and the added vote of God (who is not to be confused with Sosa) breaks the tie!
“Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I say: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it–a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and, despite the darkness, the DEVILS and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of SATAN; the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred for God, vile words, curses and blasphemies [….]
But wait, there’s more–
“I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence. I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing…”
(Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul, n. 741.)
Those who would deny the presence of hell and it’s care-taker the wicked one and its fallen angels are the first ones who will be there in their good tormented company!
Those who deny the presence of hell and it’s caretaker the wicked one and it’s fallen angels are the first ones who will be there in their company! Amen…