Overview
- Delivering his Urbi et Orbi from St. Peter’s, he called for an honest, direct and respectful dialogue to end the Ukraine war and asked for justice, peace and stability for Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria.
- He renewed his appeal for a 24‑hour Christmas ceasefire across all conflicts after saying Russia had rejected the request.
- He spotlighted humanitarian suffering, citing tents in Gaza exposed to rain, wind and cold, and remembered victims of “forgotten” wars in Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The Vatican reported 26,000 on St. Peter’s Square despite heavy rain as he revived multilingual Christmas greetings in ten languages and imparted the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing.
- On Christmas Eve he led his first Christmette before about 6,000 in the basilica, decried a “perverted economy” that treats people as commodities and thanked thousands who followed the liturgy outside in the rain.