Pope Calls for Peace on Christmas as Church Begins Jubilee Year Celebrations

Pope Francis’ Christmas message was a plea for reconciliation, peace and care for others.

As Christians around the world celebrated Christmas on Wednesday, Pope Francis called for peace, asking that cease-fires be put in place where wars rage, and that world leaders forgive the debts “that burden the poorest countries.”

Speaking to the thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City for his Christmas blessing and message, Francis returned to the topic of two military conflicts that have dominated his thoughts — and his public remarks — for many months.

In Ukraine, he called for “the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation and to gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.”

And he urged that “the sound of arms be silenced in the Middle East.” His thoughts, he said, were with Christians in the Gaza Strip, “where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave” for all who live there. Francis urged the delivery of aid “to the people worn out by hunger and by war” in Gaza, as well as a cease-fire and the release of the hostages who have been held since the Hamas-led attack on Israel 14 months ago.

He made the remarks a day after the start of the Roman Catholic Church’s Holy Year, known as a Jubilee, which takes place every quarter century. On Tuesday evening, Francis opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica so that the first pilgrims could go through. Millions more are expected to follow over the year.

Hope is the theme of the Jubilee year, and on Wednesday Francis invited “every individual, and all peoples and nations, to find the courage needed to walk through that door, to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sound of arms and overcome divisions.”

Holy Doors will be opened in Rome’s main basilicas, and also in the city’s Rebibbia prison, which the pope is expected to visit on Thursday. Jesus awaits all people, Francis said. “He awaits prisoners who, everything notwithstanding, are still children of God.”

The pope’s solemn blessing and message, titled “To the City and to the World,” is delivered twice a year, and on Wednesday Francis spoke from a balcony on the facade of the basilica. The tens of thousands packing the square cheered loudly when the pope appeared.

Vatican and Italian bands played the Italian national anthem and the pontifical anthem. Francis is the sovereign of the Vatican City State.

In his Christmas message, Francis pleaded for peace and dialogue around the world, citing conflicts including in those in Lebanon, Myanmar, Syria and the Horn of Africa. He spoke of “the devastating effects of climate change, resulting in the loss of life and the displacement of millions of people.” He asked that hope touch “the families of thousands of children who are dying from an outbreak of measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

And he prayed that the Jubilee, a moment of faith and reconciliation, would “be an opportunity to tear down all walls of separation, the ideological walls that so often mark political life.”

In his Christmas Eve homily on Tuesday, Francis also focused on hope, saying that it “calls us to become pilgrims in search of truth, dreamers who never tire, women and men open to being challenged by God’s dream of a new world where peace and justice reign.”

Francis urged the faithful to get out of their comfort zone and think of others. Hope calls people to be “bold, responsible and compassionate,” he said. “All of us have received the gift and task of bringing hope wherever hope has been lost, lives broken, promises unkept, dreams shattered and hearts overwhelmed by adversity.”

The opening of the Holy Door and Christmas celebrations kick off what will be a challenging year for Francis, who turned 88 this month and now habitually switches between a wheelchair and a cane during public appearances. Dozens of events are scheduled throughout the year, and Romans are girding for a large influx of pilgrims on top of the 20 million tourists who visited the city this year.

For some years now, Francis’ health has been a source of concern. The pontiff was hospitalized for colon surgery in 2021, and in 2023 for a respiratory infection and a hernia.

After Francis spoke, the bands again played the anthems, and then marched under his gaze. People in the crowd cheered: “Viva il papa” — “Long live the pope.”