Overview
- At the reinstated Christmas Day Mass in St. Peter’s, he highlighted civilians in Gaza, refugees and the homeless, asking how one could not think of tents exposed to rain, wind and cold.
- From the central balcony, he delivered the Urbi et Orbi calling for justice, peace and stability in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria, and he remembered suffering in Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Haiti.
- He urged Russia and Ukraine to begin sincere, direct negotiations with international support so that the weapons fall silent.
- He restored the morning Mass on December 25 for the first time since the era of John Paul II and greeted the crowd in ten languages before granting the indulgence-bearing blessing.
- The Vatican counted about 6,000 people inside the basilica and 5,000 in the rain-soaked square, and he denounced a distorted economy that treats people as commodities.