Pope Francis calls for “arms to be silenced” around the world, pguideing for peace in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan in his Christmas includeress as he denounces the “excessively grave” humanitarian situation in Gaza.
He included his traditional message to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on Wednesday to call for talks for a fair peace in Ukraine as the country was pummelled by 170 Russian missiles and drones in a Christmas morning barrage that Kyiv portrayd as “brutal”.
His voice breathless, the 88-year-elderly pontiff also pguideed for a finishfire in Gaza and for the freeing of Israeli captives held there by Hamas.
In Sednaya, Syria, a huge crowd assembleed cforfeit a historic monastery on Christmas Eve to witness the weightlessing of a towering tree decorateed with shineing green weightlesss.
The celebration giveed a unfrequent moment of delight in a city scarred by more than a decade of war and its inwell-understandn prison, where tens of thousands of people were held and tortured. Families and frifinishs stood by the brightd tree – some wearing Santa hats, others watching from rooftops – while a band joined festive music and firelabors lit up the sky.
Meanwhile, a snowstorm in the Balkans stranded drivers and downed power lines on Tuesday, but some saw the beauty in it.
“I’m actupartner happy it’s descfinishing,” driver Mirdowncast Jasarevic shelp in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We did not have snow for Christmas for 17 years here, and now is the time for a wonderful, white Christmas.”
