As the world celebrates Christmas, Pope Francis comforts terror victims in message
VATICAN CITY : Pope Francis urged peace in the Middle East as tens of thousands gathered to hear his Christmas address on Sunday, while offering comfort to victims of terrorism after a year of bloody jihadist attacks. The 80-year-old Argentine called for guns to fall silent in Syria, saying “far too much blood has been spilled” in the nearly six-year conflict.
And he urged Israelis and Palestinians to “have the courage and the determination to write a new page of history” in his message from the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica to a crowd of 40,000 gathered in the square below which, despite the sunny weather, was far from full.
As Europe ramped up security for the holiday just days after the truck attack that left 12 dead at a Berlin Christmas market, the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics said he hoped for “peace to those who have lost a person dear to them as a result of brutal acts of terrorism”.
In Milan, where suspected Berlin attacker Anis Amri was killed in a police shootout on Friday, there was a heavy police presence around the cathedral. The entrance has been protected by concrete barriers since the Berlin attack. In France, where Berlin has raised grim memories of the jihadist truck rampage in June that left 86 people dead, 91,000 members of the security forces have been deployed to guard public spaces including churches and markets over the weekend.
Religious ceremonies in Germany were heavy with the weight of Monday’s attack.