Prayers for peace
Pope Francis offered a Christmas wish for fraternity among people of different nations, cultures, faiths, races or ideas, describing the world’s differences as richness, not a danger, and championing the rights of religious minorities.
His plea yesterday for stronger bonds among peoples came as nationalism and suspicion of migrants are gaining traction across much of the globe. The long war in Syria, famine amid warfare in Yemen, social strife in Venezuela and Nicaragua, conflicts in Ukraine and tensions on the Korean Peninsula were among the pope’s concerns in his Christmas Day message, which he read from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.
Addressing some 50,000 tourists, pilgrims and Romans who flocked to St Peter’s Square on a mild, sunny day, Francis said the universal message of Christmas is that “God is a good Father and we are all brothers and sisters.” “This truly is the basis of the Christian vision of humanity,” Francis said in the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” (“to the city and the world”) message.
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