Pope Francis called for an end to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts in his Christmas message on Sunday, saying the world was suffering from a “hunger for peace”.
In delivering the blessing and message of his pontificate of the 10th Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and to the world), he also urged people to look beyond the “superficial glare of the holiday” and help the homeless, immigrants, refugees and the poor in their midst in search of comfort, warmth and food.
“We are going to see the faces of all those children who, all over the world, yearn for peace,” he said, speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, the same place where he first emerged as pope when he was elected in March 13, 2013.
“We will also see the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who live this Christmas in the dark and cold, far from their homes due to the devastation caused by ten months of war,” he said, speaking to tens of thousands of people in the square below. .
He spoke just hours after air raid sirens sounded in Ukraine and a day after Kiev said a Russian strike on the newly liberated city of Kherson killed at least five people and wounded 35 others on Saturday, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned as wanton murder for pleasure.
“May the Lord inspire us to offer concrete gestures of solidarity to help all those who suffer, and may he enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the thunder of guns and put an immediate end to this senseless war!” Francis said.
The conflict in Ukraine, he said, should not lessen concern for people whose lives have been devastated by other conflicts or humanitarian crises, citing, among others, Syria, Myanmar, Iran, Haiti and the Sahel region of Africa.
“Our time is experiencing a severe hunger for peace,” he said.
Francis called for dialogue to resume between Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land, the birthplace of Jesus.
This year saw the worst levels of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in over a decade, with at least 150 Palestinians and more than 20 Israelis killed.
Because many sit around “a well-served table,” vast amounts of food are wasted daily and resources are spent on weapons, he said.
He again condemned the use of food as a weapon of war, saying the war in Ukraine had put millions at risk of starvation, citing Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa countries.
Source: CNN Brasil
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