Pope Francis emphasizes ‘fraternity among individuals of every nation and culture’

ROME— As nationalist forces rise globally and populist leaders emphasize the primacy of their own people, Pope Francis used his annual Christmas Day address Tuesday to voice his conviction that all humans are part of an extended holy family that has lost its sense of fraternity.

“My wish for a happy Christmas is a wish for fraternity,” Francis, 82, said during his “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and to the World”) benediction from a balcony above St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

“Fraternity among individuals of every nation and culture. Fraternity among people with different ideas, yet capable of respecting and listening to one another. Fraternity among persons of different religions.

“Our differences, then, are not a detriment or a danger; they are a source of richness.”

The Pope, who has been an ardent defender of migrants in a period when speaking in their defence has largely fallen out of fashion, specifically addressed the scars of war in Africa, where “millions of persons are refugees or displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance and food security.”

He called for a spirit of fraternity to be rekindled in places where conflict has prevailed. Francis cited various conflicts, including between Israelis and Palestinians, in Yemen — where children are exhausted from “war and famine,” he said — on the Korean Peninsula, in Venezuela, Ukraine and in the “beleaguered country of Syria.”