The world celebrates a Christmas darkened by wars

Millions of Christians celebrate Christmas on Wednesday, a holiday further overshadowed this year by the wars in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine and many other regions of the world.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis is expected to renew his calls for peace in the Middle East and elsewhere during his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the city and the world”) blessing at 11 a.m.

The day before, he had opened the “Holy Year” 2025 of the Catholic Church, a major international pilgrimage for which more than 30 million faithful from all over the world are expected in Rome. He then presided over Midnight Mass, during which he invited the faithful to think of “wars, machine-gunned children, bombs on schools or hospitals”, an allusion to the Israeli strikes on Gaza which he had denounced this time. week “cruelty”, sparking protests from Israeli diplomacy.

France

In France, Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral hosts several Christmas masses on Wednesday from 7:30 a.m., after the Midnight Mass the evening before. Since the fire which devastated it on April 15, 2019, the cathedral had no longer hosted these Nativity masses celebrating, for Christians, the birth of Jesus.

“I'm so happy to come back here, it's so magical,” said Daniel James, a 46-year-old American flight attendant who came from Seattle to attend Midnight Mass.

Ukraine

For the second year in a row, Ukraine celebrated Christmas on December 25 as in the West and no longer on January 7 (corresponding to December 25 of the old Julian calendar still followed by the Russian Orthodox Church for religious holidays), before waking up Wednesday morning to a rain of missiles.

An air alert was declared across the country at dawn on Wednesday, as Russian missiles fell on the major city of Kharkiv and numerous energy infrastructure facilities.

Gloomy Christmas night also in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, the cradle of Christianity, where a few hundred faithful gathered in and around the Church of the Nativity.

Bethlehem “limits” its joy during the Christmas holidays, explains Anton Salman, the mayor of this city in the occupied West Bank, located only ten kilometers from Jerusalem, on the other side of the separation wall erected by Israel.

A large tree normally stands for Christmas on the adjoining Manger Square, but like last year, the local authorities have decided not to organize large celebrations.

The city came alive in the early afternoon with a parade of scouts, some of whom carried signs with messages such as “Stop the genocide in Gaza now” and “Our children want to play and laugh.”

Behind them, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, returned from Gaza to preside over Midnight Mass.

“I want to thank our dear brothers and sisters in Gaza, whom I have just visited,” he proclaims in his homily in English. “They are a true sign of hope in the midst of the disaster and utter destruction that surrounds them.”

“For the second year, it’s a sad Christmas for you too,” the patriarch continues. “But next year, Christmas in Bethlehem will be full of trees, life and pilgrims.”

“What we are going through is very difficult and we cannot completely ignore it,” laments Hisham Makhoul, a resident of Jerusalem present in Bethlehem, referring to a temporary “escape”.

In the small, ravaged Palestinian territory, hundreds of Christians gathered in the Church of the Holy Family in the northern city of Gaza for Christmas Eve mass.

“This Christmas reeks of death and destruction,” says George Al-Sayegh, who found refuge for weeks to escape the bombs in the Greek Orthodox church of Saint-Porphyry.

“There is no joy, no spirit of celebration. We don’t even know if we’ll survive until next Christmas.”

Addressing Christians on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to fight against “forces of evil.”

“You have stood with us with resilience, steadfastness and strength as Israel defends our civilization against barbarism,” added Mr. Netanyahu, whose country has been fighting on several fronts since the start of the war in the Strip. Gaza.

Germany

In Germany, Head of State Frank-Walter Steinmeier called in his Christmas wishes for unity and cohesion, evoking the “shadow” cast over the end-of-year celebrations by the attack on car ram which left five dead and more than 200 injured on Friday at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, in the north-east of the country.

Syria

In Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown on December 8, the new authorities dominated by Islamists have worked to reassure Christians in a predominantly Sunni country.

“It was not easy to come together in the current circumstances and pray with joy, but thanks to God, we did it,” sighs Sarah to AFP, who attended the mass in the Syriac cathedral Orthodox Church of Saint George, in Damascus.

Elsewhere, New Year’s Eve also provided its moments of comfort.

UNITED STATES

In the United States, the annual tradition of tracking down Santa Claus has been established. For young and old alike, it is possible to follow your great crossing in real time on a dedicated website.

As politics and the spirit of Christmas generally go well together, Air Force General Gregory Guillot wanted to reassure the population marked by drone overflights which recently sowed panic on the American east coast.

“I don’t anticipate any difficulty with these drones for Santa this year,” he joked on Fox News.