The Jubilee must be the propitious time to reconcile with one's enemies and stop wars. The Pope said this in the traditional Urbi et Orbi Message on Christmas Day in a Rome that is already welcoming thousands of pilgrims. In St. Peter's Square today there were also the parents of Giulio Regeni, Claudio and Paola, who with a banner returned to ask for the “truth” about their son's death.
“This Christmas, the beginning of the Jubilee Year, I invite every person, every people and nation to have the courage to cross the Door, to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the weapons and to overcome divisions”, the Pope's appeal In particular, the Pontiff hopes that “we will have the audacity to open the door to negotiations and gestures of dialogue and meeting, to arrive at a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
Then look at the Holy Land. “Let the weapons be silent in the Middle East! With my eyes fixed on the cradle of Bethlehem, I turn my thoughts to the Christian communities in Israel and Palestine, in particular to the dear community of Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is very serious. Cease the fire, let them free themselves the hostages and help the population exhausted by hunger and war”, the Pope said, hoping for peace also in Lebanon and Syria.
Finally, the Pontiff returns to ask for debt forgiveness from the poorest countries, a central theme of his Message for Peace 2025 and of the Holy Year of Hope itself. “May the Jubilee be an opportunity to forgive debts, especially those that burden the poorest countries”, Francis' final appeal. Next to him, in the central loggia, was Cardinal Silvano Tomasi, a Scalabrinian, particularly committed to the issue of debt forgiveness in developing countries.
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