Overview
- He celebrated the morning Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s for the first time since the John Paul II era, invoking the plight of Gaza, displaced families, the homeless and youths forced to fight.
- From the central balcony, he delivered the Urbi et Orbi to roughly 25–26,000 in St. Peter’s Square, urging a renewed commitment to help those who suffer and citing Gaza, Ukraine, Yemen and other crises.
- On Christmas Eve he presided over the Misa del Gallo before about 6,000 inside the basilica, greeted some 5,000 in a rainy square, and warned that a distorted economy treats people as merchandise.
- He presented Christmas as faith, charity and hope, called for a missionary Church that listens rather than imposes, and urged Latin American leaders to pursue dialogue without ideological or partisan exclusions.
- The liturgies featured universal symbols, with children from multiple continents placing flowers at the Christ Child and the Pope carrying the infant Jesus to the nativity scene.