Overview
- Calling for a one‑day halt to all wars on Christmas, he said it saddened him that Russia rejected a proposed truce for Ukraine.
- At his inaugural Christmette, he appealed for peace, hope and greater humanity while condemning a “perverted economy” that treats people as commodities and affirming each person’s infinite dignity.
- Before the liturgy, he greeted pilgrims in heavy rain on St. Peter’s Square, with roughly 6,000 inside the basilica and about 5,000 outside watching on screens.
- He referenced the Middle East by noting contact with a priest in Gaza and expressing hope for progress on a peace agreement, as Bethlehem marked public Christmas celebrations again.
- Later today he is scheduled to deliver his first Urbi et Orbi blessing to large crowds in Rome, and he has voiced disappointment over Illinois’ new assisted‑dying law.