Pope appeals for peace, speaks of God’s love in Christmas message
NOTRE-DAME MISSES OUT No Mass held for the first time since 1803
VATICAN CITY: Christmas celebrations kicked off around the world on Wednesday, with Pope Francis addressing the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics with a message of unconditional love, saying “God continues to love us all, even the worst of us”.
“You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you,” the pontiff told crowds gathered at the Vatican for his Christmas Eve midnight mass.
“May Christ bring his light to the many children suffering from war and conflicts in the Middle East and in various countries of the world,” Francis said in his traditional Christmas message, singling out the crises in Venezuela and Lebanon as well as armed conflicts ravaging many African countries.
The Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby also sent wishes of “peace and prosperity” to South Sudan as negotiations faltered between the African
country’s government and rebels, saying they were praying “for a renewed commitment to the path of reconciliation and fraternity” in the world’s newest nation.
In France, Christmas was a gloomy affair for many, as a crippling transport strike against pension reform was set to enter its fourth week, ruining the plans of many to gather with family and friends.French Catholics also endured a sad moment as NotreDame Cathedral in Paris was unable to hold Christmas Eve Mass for the first time since 1803 - after a fire ravaged its structure in April.
A bank robber brought some offbeat Christmas joy to stunned passers-by in Colorado. The white-bearded man robbed the bank in Colorado Springs on Monday, then threw the stolen cash in the air for people to grab.
In the biblical town of Bethlehem on Tuesday, a few hundred worshippers gathered in the church on the site of Jesus’s birth for midnight mass, attended by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.