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Pope Francis used Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to make an urgent appeal for peace. The head of the approximately 1.3 billion Catholics recalled the Christmas message ‘Peace on earth for men’ during the service in the Vatican on Sunday evening. In view of the war in the Middle East, Francis added: “Our hearts are tonight in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is still rejected by the doomed logic of war, by the noise of weapons.”

This year the festival is mainly influenced by the Gaza war and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. About 7,000 people attended the service in St. Peter’s Basilica, according to the Vatican. In addition, the events on St. Peter’s Square in front of the church were watched by thousands on large screens. On Monday, the head of the Catholic Church will pronounce the Urbi et Orbi blessing to the city and the world from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Christmas is being celebrated very quietly this year in the Holy Land due to the Gaza war between Israel and the Islamic Hamas. In Bethlehem on the West Bank – according to tradition the birthplace of Jesus Christ – there are hardly any tourists, contrary to normal. There were no Christmas trees. Access to the city is extremely limited due to Israeli army roadblocks. There are also virtually no Christmas decorations in Jerusalem.

The Pope personally led Christmas Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. The 87-year-old remained seated most of the time due to a knee problem. Francis called on believers to reflect on their image of God, especially at Christmas. «The danger is that we celebrate Christmas with a pagan idea of ​​God in our heads. As if he is a mighty ruler who is in heaven; a God associated with power, worldly success and the idolatry of consumerism.”

The Pope continued: “The false image of a disengaged and vengeful God who treats good and is angry with evil always recurs; a God made in our image and whose sole purpose is to solve our problems and deliver us from evil.” However, there is no “commercial God of ‘all and immediate'”. God comes to people ‘to make reality to change from within’.

Francis continued: “This is the miracle of Christmas: not a mixture of dull feelings and worldly comfort, but the incredible tenderness of God who saves the world by becoming human.” (sda/dpa)