Pope notes, Jesus loves ‘even the worst of us’

Francis celebrates the birth of Christ after a less-than-joyful year

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis assured the faithful on Christmas Eve that God loves “even the worst of us” as he celebrated the birth of Christ after a less-thanjoyful year of scandals and opposition.

With a choir singing the classic Christmas hymn “The First Noel,” Francis processed down the center aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica late Tuesday and unveiled a statue of the newborn Jesus in a nativity scene at the foot of the altar.

Francis said the birth of Jesus was a reminder of God’s unconditional love for everyone.

“God does not love you because you think and act the right way,” he said. “You may have … made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you.”

At the same time, he called for the faithful to allow themselves to be transformed by Jesus’ love and to stop trying to change others.

“May we not wait for our neighbors to be good before we do good to them, for the church to be perfect before we love her, for others to respect us before we serve them. Let us begin with ourselves,” he said.

Francis has frequently emphasized “personal conversion” in his reform-minded papacy, believing that true reform is discerned from within. He has denounced the “holier-than-thou” attitude of doctrinal and legal purists, who have chafed at his progressive openings to gays, divorcees and people on the margins.

Those critics have seized on the sexual abuse and financial scandals that have buffeted the papacy of the 83-year-old Jesuit pope.

The scandals are likely to follow Francis into 2020, with a corruption investigation involving hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to the Holy See and a report on what the Vatican knew about ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, defrocked for sexually abusing adults and minors.