On the morning of December 25, inside St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope offered a homily placing the Christmas celebration in its most universal and human dimension, recalling that \u00abthroughout the world, Christmas is a celebration of music and song par excellence,\u00bb a time when joy is expressed as a proclamation that crosses peoples and cultures and draws us out of indifference toward our neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that joy, he explained, is neither superficial nor evasive. It springs from God's gift itself, a gift that is not imposed, but calls and waits. \u00abGod's gift is fascinating, it seeks acceptance and moves us to surrender,\u00bb he said, emphasizing that its strength lies precisely in its vulnerability. It is a gift that \u00absurprises us because it exposes us to rejection\u00bb and that \u00abattracts us because it snatches us from indifference.\u00bb In that tension\u2014between attraction and risk\u2014the authenticity of the Christian faith is at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pope then delved deeper into one of the central ideas of his homily: divine filiation not as an abstract concept, but as a concrete capacity to live differently. \u00abBecoming children of God is a true power,\u00bb he said, although he warned that this power is stifled when the heart is closed. That gift, he said, \u00abremains buried as long as we remain indifferent to the cries of children and the frailty of the elderly, to the powerless silence of victims and the resigned melancholy of those who do evil without wanting to.\u00bb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indifference, rather than visible sin, is presented as the great enemy of the Gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this context, the Pope recalled some words of \u00abbeloved Pope Francis,\u00bb quoted expressly to re-evoke the \u00abjoy of the Gospel.\u00bb He recalled how Francis warned that \u00absometimes we are tempted to be Christians while keeping a prudent distance from the wounds of the Lord.\u00bb In the face of that temptation, Jesus\u00ab direct call resounded strongly: \u00bbJesus wants us to touch human misery, to touch the suffering flesh of others.\" Faith, he insisted, is not lived from a place of sterility, but from contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This contact becomes even more urgent because, as the Pontiff reminded us, the Incarnation has changed God's language forever. \u00abSince the Word became flesh, now flesh speaks, crying out the divine desire to meet us.\u00bb And that flesh today has concrete names and faces. \u00abThe Word has pitched his fragile tent among us,\u00bb he said, inviting us to look at the most painful realities of the present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He made direct reference to the situation in the Holy Land: \u00abAnd how can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind, and cold, and those of so many other displaced persons and refugees on every continent, or the makeshift shelters of thousands of homeless people in our cities?\u00bb Fragility, he emphasized, is not an idea, but a real condition: \u00abFragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tested by so many wars, ongoing or ended, leaving rubble and open wounds.\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one of the most profound passages of his homily, the Pope linked this compassionate gaze with the birth of true peace. \u00abWhen the fragility of others pierces our hearts, when the pain of others shatters our solid certainties, then peace begins.\u00bb Not a peace built on balances of power, but \u00abthe peace of God,\u00bb which \u00abis born of a sob that is welcomed, of a cry that is heard.\u00bb It is a peace that \u00abis born amid ruins that cry out for a new solidarity\u00bb and that is nourished by \u00abdreams and visions that, like prophecies, reverse the course of history.\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the central loggia of the facade of St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope gave the blessing. urbi et orbi<\/em> Christmas message focused on peace understood not as an imposed balance, but as a task that arises from personal conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the faithful gathered in the square and the millions of people who followed the event around the world, the Pontiff clearly stated: \u00abSisters and brothers, this is the path to peace: responsibility.\u00bb He emphasized that real change begins when each person abandons the logic of accusation and assumes their own share of blame. If everyone, he said, \u00abinstead of accusing others, first acknowledged their own faults and asked God for forgiveness,\u00bb and if at the same time they knew how to \u00abput themselves in the place of those who suffer\u00bb and were \u00abin solidarity with the weakest and most oppressed,\u00bb then, he said with conviction, \u00abthe world would change.\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pope rooted this call in the heart of the Christian mystery, recalling that peace has a face and a name. \u00abJesus Christ is our peace,\u00bb he proclaimed, explaining that he is so \u00abfirst and foremost because he frees us from sin\u00bb and because \u00abhe shows us the way to overcome conflicts, all conflicts, from interpersonal to international ones.\u00bb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He insisted that there can be no authentic peace without prior inner liberation, since \u00abwithout a heart free from sin, a forgiven heart, one cannot be peaceful men and women and builders of peace.\u00bb That is why he recalled that \u00abJesus was born in Bethlehem and died on the cross: to free us from sin.\u00bb In this context, he strongly affirmed that \u00abHe is the Savior\u00bb and that, sustained by his grace, \u00abeach of us can and must do our part to reject hatred, violence, and confrontation, and to practice dialogue, peace, and reconciliation.\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Christmas Day, the Pontiff wanted to send a message of closeness to Christian communities living in contexts of particular suffering. \u00abI wish to send a warm and paternal greeting to all Christians living in Middle East<\/strong>\u00ab,\u00ab he said, recalling his recent meeting with them during his first apostolic journey. From this pastoral closeness, he raised a specific plea to the Lord, saying: \"We implore Him for justice, peace, and stability for the Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Syria<\/strong>\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n The blessing was also extended to the European continent, explicitly entrusted to the \u00abPrince of Peace.\u00bb The Pope asked that Europe preserve \u00aba spirit of community and collaboration,\u00bb that it remain \u00abfaithful to its Christian roots and history,\u00bb and that it continue to show \u00absolidarity and hospitality to those in need.\u00bb In this context, he invited everyone to pray \u00abin a special way for the troubled Ukrainian people, that the roar of weapons may cease,\u00bb a sober request that resonated strongly amid the silence of the square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pope's prayer then embraced all the victims of armed conflicts around the world, entrusting them to \u00abthe Child of Bethlehem.\u00bb He implored \u00abpeace and comfort for the victims of all the wars being fought in the world, especially those that have been forgotten,\u00bb and for those who suffer \u00abbecause of injustice, political instability, religious persecution, and terrorism.\u00bb With special attention, he remembered \u00abin a special way our brothers and sisters in Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo<\/strong>\u00ab, putting a face to tragedies that are often silenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the context of \u00abthese last days of the Jubilee of Hope,\u00bb the Pope invited us to pray \u00abfor the beloved people of Haiti<\/strong>\u00ab, calling for \u00aban end to all forms of violence in the country\u00bb and for the nation to be able to move forward \u00abon the path of peace and reconciliation.\u00bb He also turned his gaze to Latin America<\/strong>, asking that \u00abthe Child Jesus inspire those with political responsibilities\u00bb so that, in the face of current challenges, \u00abspace is given to dialogue for the common good and not to ideological and partisan exclusions.\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asia also featured prominently in the blessing. The Pontiff asked the Prince of Peace to \u00abenlighten Myanmar <\/strong>with the light of a future of reconciliation,\u00bb which \u00abrestores hope to younger generations\u00bb and \u00abguides all the people of Myanmar along the paths of peace,\u00bb accompanying those who live \u00abwithout a home, without security, and without confidence in tomorrow.\u00bb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He also implored that \u00abthe old friendship between Thailand and Cambodia<\/strong>\u00bb and that the parties involved continue to strive \u00abfor reconciliation and peace.\u00bb His prayer also extended \u00abto the peoples of the South Asia and Oceania<\/strong>\u00ab, hard hit by \u00abrecent devastating natural disasters\u00bb that have severely affected entire populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the final part of his message, the Pope issued a direct warning to consciences, calling on people not to give in to one of the great evils of our time: \u00abLet us not allow ourselves to be overcome by indifference towards those who suffer, because God is not indifferent to our miseries.\u00bb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And, recalling that \u00abin a few days the Jubilee Year will come to an end,\u00bb he offered a word of hope that transcends the closing of the celebrations: \u00abThe Holy Doors will be closed, but Christ, our hope, remains with us always.\u00bb With an image of great spiritual power, he concluded by affirming that \u00abHe is the Door that is always open, which leads us into divine life.\u00bb.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" En la ma\u00f1ana del 25 de diciembre, dentro de la bas\u00edlica de San Pedro, el Papa ofreci\u00f3 una homil\u00eda situando la celebraci\u00f3n navide\u00f1a en su dimensi\u00f3n m\u00e1s universal y humana, recordando que \u00aben todo el mundo, la Navidad es una fiesta de m\u00fasica y de cantos por excelencia\u00bb, un tiempo en el que la alegr\u00eda […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1166,"featured_media":56649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[36,51],"tags":[628,2319],"class_list":["post-56647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualidad","category-vaticano","tag-navidad","tag-papa-leon-xiv"],"yoast_head":"\nJesus Christ, peace of the world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A review of some places<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Closing of the Jubilee Year<\/h2>\n\n\n\n