2023-12-24 21:30:22
“Our heart tonight is in Bethlehem,” said the Pope Francisco at the Christmas Eve mass celebrated this Sunday in St. Peter’s Basilica as Israeli military operations against Hamas intensified this Sunday.
“Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once again rejected by the useless logic of warfor the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding a place in the world,” said the Pope.
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Francis’ speech He never mentioned Israel or Gaza by name, but made numerous references to violence and war.
Arguing that justice would not come “from a show of force,” the pontiff stated that Jesus “does not eliminate injustice from above with a show of force, but from below, with a show of love.”
“He does not burst onto the scene with unlimited power”he said, speaking in Italian with an official translation in seven languages.
During his weekly Angelus prayer the previous Sunday, the Pope said that “we are close to our brothers and sisters who suffer from war: we are thinking about Palestine, about Israel, about Ukraine.”
On Christmas Day, the pontiff will lead the traditional prayer “Urbi and Orbi”during which he will typically mention conflicts around the world.
Francis celebrated Christmas Eve mass with his gaze on Bethlehem, where Christmas was canceled
A few hours before Christmas, sadness predominated in Bethlehem, the city where Jesus was born according to Christian tradition, located in the West Bank, a region occupied by Israel since 1967.
Palestinian Christians – about 50,000, of whom about a thousand live in Gaza – have their attention focused on the war and the Bethlehem mayor’s office canceled a large part of the celebrations.
Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip extinguishes Christmas in Bethlehem
This year The city is almost deserted, with few worshipers around and no Christmas trees erected, after church leaders decided to forgo “any unnecessarily festive celebrations” in solidarity with Gazans.
“It’s hard to celebrate anything at a time when our people are dying,” said Nicole Najjar, an 18-year-old student interviewed in a deserted Manger Square.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, stated upon arriving in Bethlehem that “the message of Christmas is not violence, but peace.” “We want peace, especially for the Palestinians who have been waiting for it for too long,” he added.
The conflict broke out on October 7 after an incursion by Islamist militants that killed some 1,140 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli data. The commandos also kidnapped some 240 people, of whom 129 remain captive in Gaza.
In response, Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas and launched a ground and air offensive against the Palestinian territory of about 2.4 million people, ruled by Hamas since 2007.
According to Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, the Israeli offensive has already claimed the lives of 20,424 people, mostly women and children.
The Israeli army’s bombings also affected Christian churches in the Gaza Strip, where some 1,000 Christian Palestinians took refuge.
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