VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- For the world's 1.4 billion Catholics and for millions of other people as well, the Catholic Church's 2025 was primarily about the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV.

In fact, the Wikimedia Foundation announced Dec. 2 that "Deaths in 2025" -- an entry that includes Pope Francis -- was their second most-read entry during the year, and Pope Leo's biography was the fifth most-read article of the 7.1 million entries Wikipedia has in English.

"As people rushed online to learn about Leo, traffic to all Wikimedia projects peaked at around 800,000 hits per second -- more than 6x over normal traffic levels, and a new all-time record for us," said the foundation. 

"Plenty of people came to learn more about Francis' life too," they added. "His English Wikipedia article was the 11th most-read (page) of the year."

Pope Francis had begun the year celebrating the Jan. 1 Mass for the feast of Mary, Mother of God, with a weak voice and a puffy face that, looking back, already indicated his doctors were struggling to control his chronic lung conditions -- bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis -- which were exacerbated anytime he had a cold.

He ended up being hospitalized Feb. 14 with a fever and respiratory tract infection, which later developed into double pneumonia.

While he was hospitalized, cardinals and other Vatican officials -- including U.S. Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, the future Pope Leo -- started taking turns leading thousands of people in praying the rosary for Pope Francis each night in St. Peter's Square. The nightly prayers continued until the pope was released from Rome's Gemelli hospital March 23.

Pope Francis had opened the Jubilee Year Dec. 24, 2024, just after his 88th birthday. But he ended up delegating cardinals to preside over many of the Jubilee Masses. 

On Easter, after giving his blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) -- but barely able to raise his hands -- he took his final ride in the popemobile, spending about 15 minutes among the crowd.

Pope Francis died at 7:35 a.m. the next morning, April 21.

In addition to the mourning and the prayers, his death marked the beginning of meetings of the College of Cardinals to discuss the state of the church, its needs and the needs of the world and the qualities the next pope should have.

The conclave to elect the pope solemnly began May 7 with 133 cardinals entering the Sistine Chapel. Cardinal Prevost was elected the next day, on the fourth ballot, and took the name Pope Leo XIV.

"Peace be with you," were Pope Leo's first words to the crowd. The same words are often the first he says to any group he meets.

With a warm but measured demeanor, the first U.S.-born pope eased into his new ministry, highlighting the same themes his predecessors had: the primary Christian mission of sharing the Gospel, working for peace, promoting unity within the church and within the human family and bringing all of that together by serving the poor and denouncing injustice. 

He explained the threads of that inter-connected message in his first major document, "Dilexi Te" ("I Have Loved You"), an apostolic exhortation "to all Christians on love for the poor." 

"Love for the poor -- whatever the form their poverty may take -- is the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God," the pope wrote. "I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society, if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry."

That love, he said in the document and repeatedly elsewhere as well, extends to migrants and refugees.

"The Church has always recognized in migrants a living presence of the Lord who, on the day of judgment, will say to those on his right: 'I was a stranger, and you welcomed me,'" he wrote.

Pope Leo has been asked repeatedly about U.S. President Donald Trump's treatment of migrants and refugees and the administration's stated goal of mass deportations, and he repeatedly has affirmed church teaching that recognizes the right of a nation to control its borders while insisting that people seeking safety and a better life must be treated with dignity. 

Unlike Pope Francis, his predecessor, Pope Leo has had many of those conversations with reporters in Castel Gandolfo, home of a sprawling papal property with villas, a farm, gardens and a new center dedicated to educating people in ecology.

While Pope Francis visited only a couple of times and then turned the main papal residence at Castel Gandolfo into a museum, Pope Leo spent weeks there in the summer and returns most Monday evenings to spend 24 hours at the villa reading, relaxing, playing tennis and swimming in the indoor pool.

Being elected during a Holy Year, with special Jubilee celebrations planned most weekends, Pope Leo inherited a full calendar and made it his own, especially in late July with the Jubilee of Youth, which brought more than 1 million young people to Rome. 

He had a special and immediate connection with the crowd, in large part because he spoke directly to the young people in English and Spanish in addition to Italian, the Vatican's official working language. 

The young people roared with approval as he spoke to them in languages that most could understand without translation. He clearly tapped into their potential, their hopes and their dreams and brought them along with him to celebrate and pray.

"Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are," he told them at Mass Aug. 3. "Do not settle for less. You will then see the light of the Gospel growing every day, in you and around you."

His ability to connect and his focus on mission, unity and peace were especially obvious Nov. 27-Dec. 2 as he made his first foreign trip as pope, visiting Turkey and Lebanon. 

The trip was planned around an ecumenical celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the Creed most Christians share. But he also encouraged the minority Catholic communities that make outsized contributions to both nations and spent hours demonstrating his respect for the majority Muslim communities.

"The more we can promote authentic unity and understanding, respect and human relationships of friendship and dialogue in the world, the greater possibility there is that we will put aside the arms of war, that we will leave aside the distrust, the hatred, the animosity that has so often been built up and that we will find ways to come together and be able to promote authentic peace and justice throughout the world," he told reporters flying back to Rome with him Dec. 2.
 

Church of St. Stephen in Jerusalem, Israel, Sept. 18, 2018. / Credit: Bukvoed, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 26, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

If “Good King Wenceslas” is one of the Christmas hymns you look forward to each year, you probably know which saint is celebrated today — St. Stephen, the first person to die for the risen Christ. Roman Catholics celebrate his feast on Dec. 26, while Eastern Catholics honor him one day later, on Dec. 27. 

Stephen was a Jew who likely became a follower of Jesus while he was still ministering on earth. He may have been among the 70 disciples whom Christ sent out as missionaries, who preached the coming of God’s kingdom while traveling with almost no possessions.

Famously, Stephen was stoned to death near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem for proclaiming his faith in Jesus. Today, near the site of Stephen’s martyrdom, a grand Catholic church and convent have stood since the year 1900. A chapel of one form or another memorializing Stephen’s martyrdom has existed at the site since at least the fifth century.

Every year, the Church of St. Stephen (Saint-Étienne in French), a minor basilica, celebrates its patron with a Mass and a meal. The current Dominican priory was created in 1882 and the Dominicans today run the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem, a highly respected center of biblical study.

Who was Stephen?

In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke praises Stephen as “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit” who “did great wonders and signs among the people” during the earliest days of the Church. He may have been among the 70 disciples whom Christ sent out as missionaries, who preached the coming of God’s kingdom while traveling with almost no possessions.

Stephen’s speech immediately before his martyrdom is the longest recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. In it, the saint describes Israel’s resistance to God’s grace in the past and accuses the present religious authorities of “opposing the Holy Spirit” and rejecting the Messiah.

Before he was put to death, Stephen had a vision of Christ in glory. “Look,” he told the Jewish court. “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” He was dragged away and stoned to death. 

Stephen’s martyrdom was overseen by a Pharisee named Saul — later St. Paul  — who became a disciple after a dramatic vision of Christ and became a martyr himself.

Numerous popes have reflected over the years on the importance of St. Stephen in the life of the Church.

This story was first published on Dec. 26, 2023, and has been updated.

Breaking News / CNA

CNA Staff, Dec 25, 2025 / 22:08 pm (CNA).

With the support of the Nigerian government, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. military has carried out strikes against elements of ISIS in Nigeria that “have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.”

“I have previously warned these terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” said President Trump of the Dec. 25 action. 

Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that “precision hits on terrorist targets” in the country’s northwestern Sokoto state were carried out in cooperation with the United States.   

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he was “grateful for Nigerian government support and cooperation” in the counter-terrorism effort. 

Upon announcing the action, President Trump emphasized that “under my leadership, our country will not allow radical Islamic terrorism to prosper” and that further strikes will be carried out if the “slaughter of Christians” continues in Africa’s most populous country.

Applauding the action, Congressman Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, a Catholic who has championed the cause of persecuted Nigerian Christians in the U.S. House of Representatives, said that “tonight's strike in coordination with the Nigerian government is just the first step to ending the slaughter of Christians and the security crisis affecting all Nigerians.”

This is a developing story.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa is the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem / Credit: Courtesy of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 25, 2025 / 16:07 pm (CNA).

At the Christmas Eve Mass celebrated in Bethlehem, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, affirmed that “one of the great messages of Christmas” is that God “does not wait for history to improve before entering into it,” but rather embraces human reality.

During his homily, the Cardinal explained that the birth of Jesus does not occur outside of time or apart from political events, but within concrete history. “God does not create a parallel history. He does not enter the world when everything is finally ordered and peaceful,” but rather “enters into real, concrete, sometimes harsh history.”

Commenting on the beginning of the Gospel of Saint Luke, which places the birth of Christ in the context of a decree by Emperor Augustus, the Patriarch indicated that this detail has profound theological significance. “The very history that claims to be self-sufficient becomes the place where God fulfills his promise,” he affirmed, adding that “no time is ever truly lost, and no situation is too dark for God to dwell in it.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa emphasized that, although the Emperor's decree seems to dominate the scene, “unbeknownst to him, it becomes an instrument of a greater plan.”  Faced with the logic of power that “counts, registers, and governs,” God responds with the logic of the gift, giving his Son in the fragility of “a child born without power.”

In this context, he recalled that Christmas is not an escape from the world's problems. “Christmas is not a refuge that removes us from the tension of the present time,” he warned, but rather “a school of responsibility,” because Christ “does not wait for circumstances to be favorable: he inhabits them and transforms them.”

The Patriarch also referred to the announcement of peace on the night of Jesus Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, clarifying that it is not a superficial peace.  “It is not a mere balance of power nor the result of fragile agreements,” he explained, but rather “the fruit of God's presence in history.” However, he added that this peace “is given, but also entrusted,” and only becomes real when it finds “hearts willing to receive it and hands ready to protect it.”

Speaking from the Holy Land, Cardinal Pizzaballa acknowledged that the current reality remains marked by deep wounds. “We come from years of great suffering, in which war, violence, hunger, and destruction have marked the lives of many, especially children,” he stated.  Nevertheless, he emphasized that it is precisely in this context that the Christmas message resonates most powerfully.

Finally, the Patriarch urged people not to remain neutral in the face of the complexities of history. “The darkness of the world may be profound, but it is not definitive,” he said, reminding everyone that “the light of Bethlehem does not blind, but illuminates the path,” and is transmitted “from heart to heart, through humble gestures, words of reconciliation, and daily decisions for peace.”

Fresco of the Holy Family in Dobling Carmelite Monastery in Vienna, Austria. The Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family this year on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. / Credit: Renata Sedmakova/Shutterstock

Denver, Colorado, Dec 25, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The Catholic calendar has several ways to divide the Christmas season. The Church’s Western liturgical tradition sees Christmas as an octave, an eight-day celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The octave of Christmas begins on Christmas itself, the feast of the Nativity of the Lord. It ends on the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, on Jan. 1, which this season falls on a Thursday in the new year of 2026.

The drama of this time of the Catholic liturgical calendar even includes changes to the liturgical vestments of the clergy.

During these eight days of Christmas, clergy wear white during the Mass.

But there are exceptions when clergy wear red, the symbol of martyrdom: the feast of St. Stephen, Dec. 26, and the feast of the Holy Innocents, Dec. 28.

As the Book of Acts recounts, St. Stephen was a deacon who was the first martyr after the resurrection of Jesus. He was killed for preaching Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament. One of the witnesses of his death was a man named Saul, the future St. Paul.

The Holy Innocents, too, are considered martyrs. They died in place of Jesus when Herod sought to kill all boys under 2 years old.

On Dec. 27 the Church marks the feast of St. John the Apostle, Jesus’ “beloved disciple.” John was a great evangelist and credited with authoring the Gospel of John and three letters of the New Testament. Many credit him with authoring the Book of Revelation.

The feast of the Holy Family continues the story of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph with the flight into Egypt. It usually falls on the Sunday after Christmas.

The solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, looks to the role of Mary in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. She is the “Theotokos,” literally the God-bearer. She does not simply carry Jesus’ human nature, nor is she a vessel for his divinity alone. Because Jesus’ divine and human natures are united, she is truly the Mother of God.

The Christmas octave is when so many people have time to rest from a busy year and to spend time with family. One fitting way to observe the octave is to attend daily Mass and prayerfully reflect on the Mass readings.

This story was first published on Dec. 25, 2022, and has been updated.

Pope Leo XIV delivers his Christmas "Urbi et Orbi" message at the Vatican on December 25, 2025. / Daniel Ibañez/ EWTN News

Vatican City, Dec 25, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

In his first Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” message as pope, Leo XIV urged the world to embrace “responsibility” as the sure way to peace, while pointing in particular to the suffering of people in Gaza, Yemen, and those fleeing war and poverty as refugees and migrants.

Before an estimated 26,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 25, the pope appeared at the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to deliver the traditional Christmas blessing “to the city and to the world,” eight months after his May 8 election.

In one of the most evocative passages of the message, the pope cited at length from “Wildpeace,” a poem by Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, contrasting “the peace of a cease-fire” with a deeper peace that arrives unexpectedly — “like wildflowers” — after exhaustion and conflict.

“Responsibility is the sure way to peace,” Leo said. “If all of us, at every level, would stop accusing others and instead acknowledge our own faults, asking God for forgiveness, and if we would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change.”

The pope framed his appeal around the Christian proclamation that Christ “is our peace,” adding: “Without a heart freed from sin, a heart that has been forgiven, we cannot be men and women of peace or builders of peace.”

Turning to concrete “faces” of contemporary pain, Leo said that in becoming man, Jesus “took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent.”

He also named those who have lost jobs, underpaid workers who are exploited, and prisoners “who often live in inhumane conditions.”

Leo offered “a warm and fatherly greeting” to Christians, “especially those living in the Middle East,” recalling his recent trip to Turkey and Lebanon. “I listened to them as they expressed their fears and know well their sense of powerlessness before the power dynamics that overwhelm them,” he said.

“From God let us ask for justice, peace and stability for Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria,” the pope continued, as he invoked Scripture on righteousness and peace.

He also prayed “in a particular way for the tormented people of Ukraine,” asking that “the clamor of weapons cease,” and that the parties involved — “with the support and commitment of the international community” — find “the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue.”

In a wider survey of global crises, the pope said: “From the Child of Bethlehem, we implore peace and consolation for the victims of all current wars in the world, especially those that are forgotten, and for those who suffer due to injustice, political instability, religious persecution and terrorism,” naming Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He prayed as well for Haiti, asking that “all forms of violence in the country will cease,” and called for a future of reconciliation for Myanmar.

Leo also included a specific appeal for Latin America, asking that “the Child Jesus inspire those in Latin America who hold political responsibilities,” so that amid the region’s challenges “space may be given to dialogue for the common good, rather than to ideological and partisan prejudices.”

He concluded by urging the faithful to open their hearts to those in need: “On this holy day, let us open our hearts to our brothers and sisters who are in need or in pain,” before offering “heartfelt good wishes for a peaceful and holy Christmas!”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV blesses a baby on All Saints Day’ 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 25, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has welcomed and greeted a plethora of babies at the Vatican since his election on May 8. As Christians everywhere celebrate the birth of Jesus, who came into this world as a baby, it’s a perfect time to highlight many of these sweet “pontiff meets babies” moments.

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on December 25, 2025. / Daniel Ibañez/ EWTN News

Vatican City, Dec 25, 2025 / 06:35 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Christmas Day deplored the “falsehoods” used to justify wars that leave young people “forced to take up arms” and “sent to their deaths,” while also drawing attention to the humanitarian suffering of displaced people, including families living in tents in Gaza.

In his first Christmas as pope, Leo celebrated Christmas Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, reviving a practice not seen since 1994 during the pontificate of St. John Paul II. Reflecting on the prologue of St. John’s Gospel, the pope said in his homily that the Christmas liturgy highlights a striking contrast: God’s Word, which acts with power, comes into the world in utter weakness.

“The ‘Word’ is a word that acts,” Leo said. Yet, he added, “the Word of God appears but cannot speak. He comes to us as a newborn baby who can only cry and babble.”

Leo said the mystery Christians celebrate at Christmas cannot be separated from the vulnerability of those whose dignity is assaulted by war, displacement, and poverty. He urged Catholics to let Christ’s birth pierce complacency and move them toward tenderness and solidarity.

“‘Flesh’ is the radical nakedness that, in Bethlehem as on Calvary, remains even without words – just as so many brothers and sisters, stripped of their dignity and reduced to silence, have no words today,” he said.

In one of the homily’s most striking passages, Leo connected the Gospel image of the Word “pitching” his tent among humanity with the reality faced by families living in makeshift shelters amid conflict.

“Dear brothers and sisters, since the Word was made flesh, humanity now speaks, crying out with God’s own desire to encounter us. The Word has pitched his fragile tent among us,” he said, before asking: “How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold; and of those of so many other refugees and displaced persons on every continent; or of the makeshift shelters of thousands of homeless people in our own cities?”

The pope also described the toll of war in terms of both shattered communities and wounded consciences.

“Fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds,” he said. “Fragile are the minds and lives of young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.”

Leo framed Christmas as a proclamation that peace is not merely a hope for the future but a gift already present in Christ, even when few recognize it. Quoting Jesus’ words to the disciples, he said: “‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you’ (Jn 14:27).”

That peace, he said, begins not in rhetoric but in concrete compassion that listens, stays close, and responds to suffering.

“When the fragility of others penetrates our hearts, when their pain shatters our rigid certainties, then peace has already begun,” he said. “The peace of God is born from a newborn’s cry that is welcomed, from weeping that is heard. It is born amidst ruins that call out for new forms of solidarity.”

The pope warned that believers can bury what the Gospel calls “the power to become children of God” by keeping their distance from the vulnerable.

“Becoming children of God is a true power – one that remains buried so long as we keep our distance from the cry of children and the frailty of the elderly, from the helpless silence of victims and the resigned melancholy of those who do the evil they do not want,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

The Shrine of Santa Maria della Consolazione in Deliceto, Italy, where St. Alphonsus Liguori was inspired to write and compose the famous Italian Christmas carol, “Tu Scendi dalle Stelle,” in 1744. / Credit: Gianpiero Passalia/EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Dec 25, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

If you spend any part of Christmas in Italy, you are sure to hear one of the country’s most beloved carols, “Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle” (“From Starry Skies Descending”).

The Christmas song, written and composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori in the mid-18th century, describes Christ, King and Creator, coming into the world as a poor baby.

The song was “born from the heart and pen of Alphonsus Maria Liguori — in love with Jesus, but passionate about humanity — and very close to ordinary people,” Father Luca Preziosi told Valentina Di Donato of EWTN News.

The saint, from Naples, “wanted to share a little of this beauty, of his knowledge of Jesus,” especially with the peasants of the time, who could not read or write, said Preziosi, the rector of the Shrine of Santa Maria della Consolazione in Deliceto, Italy.

St. Alphonsus Liguori was a Neapolitan lawyer who became a priest and later a bishop. He is founder of the Redemptorists, a religious congregation dedicated to missionary work. He was declared a doctor of the Church for his contribution to moral theology. 

In December 1744, Alphonsus was asked by his bishop to serve for a period near the town of Deliceto, in southern Italy, at the Convent of the Consolation, where he would eventually found the third Redemptorist house.

According to popular tradition, the priest was inspired by a grotto near the convent — hidden inside a small church — which recalled the humble birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem. He began penning what would become “Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle.”

Alphonsus also borrowed heavily from the melody and lyrics of an earlier Christmas song he had written in Neapolitan dialect, “Quanno Nascette Ninno” (“When the Child Was Born”).

The Italian saint’s original title for the song, which has seven stanzas, was “Canzoncina a Gesù Bambino” (“Little Song to the Baby Jesus”).

The popular carol is part of the Italian “pastorale” musical style, and though several different arrangements exist, it is traditionally accompanied by an Italian bagpipe.

Italian singer Luciano Lamonarca has been working to popularize the song beyond Italy’s borders with a version of the carol in Italian, English, and Spanish.

“As a tenor, I of course wanted to promote the legacy of this song,” he told EWTN News. “So like Sergio Franchi and Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Boccelli, who have recorded the song mostly in Italy, in Italian, I supported a project that would allow me to sing the song in all three languages and tell the story to the public at large, especially in America, where the song is not well known.” 

Lamonarca presented his project to share “Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle” around the world with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Dec. 18. 

An English translation of the first two stanzas is:

From starry skies descending
Thou comest, the glorious King
A manger low Thy bed
In winter’s icy sting
A manger low Thy bed
In winter’s icy sting
O my dearest Child most holy
Shudd’ring, trembling in the cold!
Great God, Thou lovest me!
What suff’ring Thou didst bear
That I near Thee might be!
What suff’ring Thou didst bear
That I near Thee might be!

Thou art the world’s Creator
God’s own and true Word
Yet here no robe, no fire
For Thee, Divine Lord
Yet here no robe, no fire
For Thee, Divine Lord
Dearest, fairest, sweetest Infant
Dire this state of poverty
The more I care for Thee
Since Thou, O Love Divine
Will’st now so poor to be
Since Thou, O Love Divine
Will’st now so poor to be

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Jesus entering the world as a little baby in need of everything is a sign of God's solidarity with every person in need, longing for love and a helping hand, Pope Leo XIV said at Christmas morning Mass.

"The Word has pitched his fragile tent among us. How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold; and of those of so many other refugees and displaced persons on every continent; or of the makeshift shelters of thousands of homeless people in our own cities?" he asked in his homily at the Mass Dec. 25 in St. Peter's Basilica. 

In celebrating the morning liturgy publicly, Pope Leo restored a tradition that had lapsed for 30 years. St. John Paul II did not preside over the liturgy in 1995 because he had the flu, and the morning Mass never returned to the papal calendar.

Like his predecessors, Pope Leo went to the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at noon to give his solemn blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and world). And, returning to a tradition set aside by Pope Francis, who claimed he was bad at languages, Pope Leo wished people a merry Christmas in 10 languages: Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Arabic, Chinese and Latin.

"Merry Christmas! May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts and in your families," he said.

In his homily and in his Christmas message before the "urbi et orbi" blessing, Pope Leo insisted that the Christian mission of sharing the good news of salvation in Christ means being serious about what is going on in the world and working to alleviate suffering, promote dialogue and end wars and violence.

Taking on the fragile flesh of a baby, God wanted to identify with every human person, he said in the morning homily. 

"Fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds," he said. "Fragile are the minds and lives of young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths."

"When the fragility of others penetrates our hearts, when their pain shatters our rigid certainties, then peace has already begun," the pope insisted.

The response of Christians to suffering and violence must be firm but tender, he said.

"We do not serve a domineering Word -- too many of those already resound everywhere," the pope said, but rather Christians profess and serve a Lord who "inspires goodness, knows its efficacy and does not claim a monopoly over it."

The peace proclaimed by Jesus, he said, will take root "when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other." 

Pope Leo continued his reflection in his "urbi et orbi" message, telling the crowd gathered in the rain in St. Peter's Square that Jesus, "out of love" wanted "to be born of a woman and so share our humanity; out of love, he accepted poverty and rejection, identifying himself with those who are discarded and excluded."

As is customary, the pope used his message to call attention to urgent needs and suffering in places around the globe and to urge people to help relieve that suffering.

"Those who do not love are not saved; they are lost," he said. "And those who do not love their brother or sister whom they see, cannot love God whom they do not see," as the First Letter of John says.

"If all of us, at every level, would stop accusing others and instead acknowledge our own faults, asking God for forgiveness, and if we would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change," Pope Leo said.

Looking around the world, the pope prayed for peace and justice in dozens of countries, including Ukraine, and, as he did the night before and during the Christmas morning Mass, Pope Leo also called attention to the plight of migrants and refugees, asking governments to accept and assist them.

"In becoming man," he said, "Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent." 

"On this holy day, let us open our hearts to our brothers and sisters who are in need or in pain," Pope Leo said. "In doing so, we open our hearts to the Child Jesus, who welcomes us with open arms and reveals his divinity to us."

Octavia Thuss and her son Henry Thuss from La Cañada, California, were among the 26,000 people in St. Peter's Square for the pope's blessing. They also had been in the square late the night before, watching the pope's Christmas Mass on a screen in the rain.

Since it was Pope Leo's first Christmas as pope, "It was historic," she said. "It was a really beautiful service."

Spending the Christmas holiday in Rome during the final days of the Jubilee Year added to the experience, since they were among some of the last pilgrims to pass through the Holy Doors at the city's major basilicas.

"It's kind of a no brainer," Henry said, adding that he felt being at the Vatican during Christmas in a Jubilee Year was akin to Muslims making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

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Contributing to this story was Josephine Peterson.
 

Pope Leo's Christmas message: Jesus brings peace by healing sin

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Christmas morning Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 25 before giving his blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world).