Pope Leo XIV celebrated the first Christmas mass of his pontificate in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Wednesday evening. In front of cardinals, bishops, diplomats and around 6,000 believers, he gave a very religious sermon without directly addressing current issues. Christmas is a celebration of “faith, love and hope,” said the Pope. At the same time, he criticized an “inverted economy” that “tempts people to be treated as commodities.”
Called out during mass on Christmas Eve Leo XIV. called for peace, hope and preservation of human dignity and also called for compassion and peace. There would be no room for God on earth if there was no room for man.
Before the start of the mass, the Pope surprisingly greeted the faithful in St. Peter’s Square. Around 5,000 people gathered there despite the rain to watch the ceremony on screens. “St. Peter’s Basilica is very large, but unfortunately not large enough to accommodate all of you,” Leo XIV said in English. “I admire and respect you and thank you for your courage and your desire to be here tonight.”
“A Story of Love”
Christmas Mass celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and is one of the most important days in the Catholic Church calendar. The child born on Christmas means hope for people today, said the head of the Catholic Church. “In the face of the suffering of the poor, he sends one who is defenseless to be the strength to rise; in the face of violence and oppression, he kindles a gentle light that illuminates all the children of the world with salvation,” Leo said. Christmas does not mean “the solution to every problem, but a story of love that includes us.”
The Pope – the first American to sit on the Chair of Peter – had a one-day meeting in the afternoon Ceasefire for all conflicts at Christmas worldwide and specifically mentioned the war in Ukraine. He is sad that Russia rejected a Christmas truce. He had previously discussed the situation in the Middle East. It is to be hoped that the peace agreement will make progress.
In Bethlehem, Christians celebrate Christmas again for the first time since the end of the Gaza war. During the two years of war there were only simple celebrations in solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip. This time a large Christmas tree was once again put up in front of the Church of the Nativity of Jesus in Bethlehem. The highest representative of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land called for hope and reconstruction during midnight mass. The suffering in Gaza is still omnipresent despite the end of the war, said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa in the Church of St. Catherine next to the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank. “Families are living in the rubble, and the future seems fragile and uncertain.”
Remembering Pope Francis
In Rome, the pontiff also remembered his predecessor Pope Francis, who died in April and who was already in poor health at Christmas 2024. opened the Holy Year and called for hope. “As the Jubilee draws to a close, Christmas is for us a time of gratitude and mission. Gratitude for the gift received; mission to witness it to the world,” said Pope Leo XIV. The Holy Year ends on January 6th with the closing of the Holy Door of the St. Peter’s Basilica.
In the morning, Leo celebrates the Christmas Day service in St. Peter’s Basilica. He then gives the traditional blessing “Urbi et orbi” (The City and the World) from the central loggia of the basilica. Tens of thousands of believers are expected in Rome. On Boxing Day, Leo XIV says the midday prayer in St. Peter’s Square. Robert Francis Prevost, who comes from the USA, succeeded his late predecessor Francis in May.
