Seasons & Celebrations
Pope Francis waves to an estimated 70,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for his Christmas blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) Dec. 25, 2023. CNS photo/Vatican Media
Pope: At Christmas, God shows love through ‘littleness,’ not power BY JUSTIN MCLELLAN Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY • More than two millennia after the Holy Family was denied a room at the inn and Jesus was born in a manger, war once again renders his birthplace in the Holy Land inhospitable, Pope Francis said. “Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world,” the Pope said Dec. 24 during his homily for Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Pope reflected on Jesus’ birth occurring after Caesar decreed a census Children carrying flowers gather around a figurine of the baby Jesus in front of the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica during Christmas Mass with Pope Francis at the Vatican Dec. 24, 2023. CNS photo/ Lola Gomez
in which “the whole world should be enrolled,” as recounted in St. Luke’s Gospel. The census, he said, “manifests the all-too-human thread that runs through history: the quest for worldly power and might, fame and glory, which measures everything in terms of success, results, numbers and figures, a world obsessed with achievement.” By becoming human, however, Jesus chooses the way of “littleness.” At Christmas, Pope Francis encouraged Christians to shun the image of a mighty and lofty God, “because there is always a risk that we can celebrate Christmas while thinking of God in pagan terms, as a powerful potentate in the sky; a god linked to power, worldly success and the idolatry of consumerism.”
Pope’s Christmas message: Say ‘yes’ to the Prince of Peace, ‘no’ to war VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Celebrating the birth of Jesus, the prince of peace, should mean making a commitment to opposing all war, to cherishing human life, feeding the hungry and speaking up for those who have no voice, Pope Francis said. “To say ‘yes’ to the Prince of Peace, then, means saying ‘no’ to war – and doing so with courage – saying no to every war, to the very mindset of war, an aimless voyage, a defeat without victors, an inexcusable folly,” the Pope said Dec. 25 as he read his Christmas message and offered his blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world). As he stood on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica with an estimated 70,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope began his message speaking of Bethlehem where celebrations of Jesus’ birth are muted this year because of the Israeli-Hamas conflict. But he also used his message to preach the hope of Christmas, which he said was found in God, who loved humanity so much that he sent his son to be born in a manger.
January 2024
THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 31