Pope urges 'all people of all nations' to overcome divisions in Christmas address

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Wednesday urged “all people of all nations” to find courage during this Holy Year “to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions” plaguing the world, from the Middle East to Ukraine, Africa to Asia.

The pontiff's “Urbi et Orbi” — “To the City and the World” — address serves as a summary of the woes facing the world this year. As Christmas coincided with the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that he dedicated to hope, Francis called for broad reconciliation, “even (with) our enemies.”

"I invite every individual, and all people of all nations … to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions," the pope said from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica to throngs of people below.

The pope invoked the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, which he opened on Christmas Eve to launch the 2025 Jubilee, as representing God’s mercy, which “unties every knot; it tears down every wall of division; it dispels hatred and the spirit of revenge.”

He called for arms to be silenced in war-torn Ukraine and in the Middle East, singling out Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, “particularly in Gaza where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave,” as well as Lebanon and Syria “at this most delicate time.”

Francis repeated his calls for the release of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023.

He cited a deadly outbreak of measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the suffering of the people of Myanmar, forced to flee their homes by “the ongoing clash of arms.” The pope likewise remembered children suffering from war and hunger, the elderly living in solitude, those fleeing their homelands, who have lost their jobs, and are persecuted for their faith.

Pilgrims were lined up on Christmas Day to walk through the great Holy Door at the entrance of St. Peter’s Basilica, as the Jubilee was expected to bring some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome.

Traversing the Holy Door is one way that the faithful can obtain indulgences, or forgiveness for sins during a Jubilee, a once-every-quarter-century tradition that dates from 1300.

Pilgrims submitted to security controls before entering the Holy Door, amid new security fears following a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany. Many paused to touch the door as they passed and made the sign of the cross upon entering the basilica dedicated to St. Peter, the founder of the Roman Catholic Church.

“You feel so humble when you go through the door that once you go through is almost like a release, a release of emotions," said Blanca Martin, a pilgrim from San Diego. "… It’s almost like a release of emotions, you feel like now you are able to let go and put everything in the hands of God. See I am getting emotional. It’s just a beautiful experience.”

A Chrismukkah miracle as Hanukkah and Christmas coincide

Hanukkah, Judaism’s eight-day Festival of Lights, begins this year on Christmas Day, which has only happened four times since 1900.

The calendar confluence inspired some religious leaders to host interfaith gatherings, such as a Hanukkah party hosted last week by several Jewish organizations in Houston, Texas, bringing together members of the city’s Latino and Jewish communities for latkes, the traditional potato pancake eaten on Hanukkah, topped with guacamole and salsa.

While Hanukkah is intended as an upbeat, celebratory holiday, rabbis note it’s taking place this year as wars rage in the Middle East and fears rise over widespread incidents of antisemitism.

The holidays overlap infrequently because the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles and is not in sync with the Gregorian calendar, which sets Christmas on Dec. 25. The last time Hanukkah began on Christmas Day was in 2005.

Ukraine marks second Christmas at war

In the front lines of eastern Ukraine, soldiers spent another Christmas locked in grinding battles with Russian forces. It is their second Christmas at war and away from home since the February 2022 full-scale invasion.

A soldier with the call sign OREL, the Ukrainian commander of 211th battalion said he had forgotten it was Christmas day.

“Honestly, I remembered about this holiday only in the evening (after) someone wrote in the group that today is a holiday," he said. “We have no holidays, no weekends. … I don’t know, I have no feelings, everything is plain, everything is gray, and my thoughts are only about how to preserve my personnel and how to stop the enemy.”

Others, however, said that the day brought hope that there would one day be peace. Ukrainians expect the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will bring about a ceasefire deal, and many soldiers who bore the brunt of nearly three years of fighting said they hoped that would be the case.

Valerie, a Ukrainian solider of the 24th Mechanized Brigade, who only provided his first name, said

“On such a day, today, I’d like to wish for all of this to be over, for everyone," said Valerie, a Ukrainian soldier in the 24th Mechanized Brigade who would only give his first name. “Of course, there is always hope, there is always hope. Everyone wants peace, everyone wants peace and to return home,'”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Military chaplain Roman Kostenko of the 117th Separate Heavy Mechanized Brigade said that soldiers unable to be with their families are “united by our military family.”

Ukraine was officially celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 for the second time. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed legislation in July 2023 to bring Ukraine’s public Christmas holiday in line with the majority of other European countries, rather than the later date followed in Russia. The shift sought to assert Ukraine’s national identity amid Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“While the rest of the world celebrates Christmas, Ukrainians continue to suffer from endless Russian attacks," Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, wrote Tuesday on social media.

White Christmas in the U.S. Northeast

Residents of New York City awoke to their first white Christmas in Central Park since 2009, according to the National Weather Service New York. The 843-acre urban park recorded a snow depth of 1 inch at 7 a.m.

In Massachusetts, school children came up with names for a dozen hardworking snowplows, including “Taylor Drift,” “Control-Salt-Delete” and “It’s Snow Problem.” The Massachusetts Department of Transportation this week announced the winners of its competition to name the snowplows, which was open to elementary and middle school students. Other winning names included “Meltin’ John,” “Ice Ice Baby” and the “Abominable Plowman.”

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden spent part of Christmas Day calling each branch of the military stationed overseas to thank them for their service.

German celebrations muted by market attack

German celebrations were darkened by a car attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday that left five people dead, including a 9-year-old boy, and 200 people injured.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rewrote his recorded Christmas Day speech to address the attack, saying that “there is grief, pain, horror and incomprehension over what took place in Magdeburg.” He urged Germans to “stand together” and that “hate and violence must not have the last word.”

A 50-year-old Saudi doctor who practiced medicine in Germany since 2006 was arrested on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm. The suspect’s X account describes him as a former Muslim and is filled with anti-Islamic themes. He criticized authorities for failing to combat “the Islamification of Germany” and voiced support for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Displaced Christians in Gaza pray for peace

An elderly Christian couple in the Gaza Strip has marked Christmas in a squalid tent camp, separated from their families and friends.

Amal Amouri and her husband, Tony Al-Masri, are members of Gaza’s tiny Christian community. While many of Gaza’s 1,000 or so Christians have sheltered in a Gaza City church throughout the war, the couple is among the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who have fled to southern Gaza.

The tent camps in the Muwasi area barely have enough food or proper shelter. Al-Masri said he recently recovered from a stroke and walks with a cane.

Al-Masri said that before the war, his family would travel to the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, to celebrate the holiday. He said being separated from them was especially difficult.

“On days like these, I would be with my children in Bethlehem and with my grandchildren, sitting with all the family. We have been deprived of all of this,” he said. “This is the hardest thing for me. For two years I have not seen my children or grandchildren.”

His wife hung a wooden cross inside their tent, which has pictures of Christian leaders and Jesus and Virgin Mary as well as written prayers in every corner.

She said their biggest mistake was not to leave Gaza City and not stay with their friends inside of the Church of the Holy Family.

“I only wish for peace, that God would put peace in the hearts of the whole world and comfort the world, and that there would no longer be war or bombing,” Amouri said.

Barry reported from Milan. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; Rashid Yehya in Teleskaf, Iraq; Evgeniy Maloletka in the Donetsk region, Ukraine; Nick Perry in Boston; and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this report.

PHOTOS: Holiday Lights from around the world