POPE FRANCIS IS expected to appeal for reconciliation of fractured communities in his Christmas Day blessing, as the world takes stock of a year of violence and suffering that saw hundreds of thousands flee their homes.
Francis is due to address his believers at Saint Peter’s Basilica for the Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) message, traditionally an occasion to appeal for solutions to the world’s problems.
He has much to contemplate as 2015 comes to a close, with Islamic State overrunning swathes of the Middle East, brutal sectarian conflicts in Africa and threats to the environment contributing to a wave of a million migrants risking their lives to reach Europe.
In many countries across the world, Christians were fearful for their future, and some were even prohibited from celebrating the holy day.
In Somalia, the government has banned celebrations of Christmas and New Year in the Muslim majority country, saying the festivities might attract Islamist attacks.
The same is true in oil-rich Brunei, where the country’s authorities have threatened five-year jail sentences for those who violate a ban imposed on “open and excessive” celebrations.
Return to simple values
At his Christmas Eve mass, Pope Francis urged the faithful to reject the materialism that pervades the gift-giving season, and to embrace “simple, balanced” values, while violence subdued festivities in the Holy Land.
Addressing crowds at Saint Peter’s Basilica, the pontiff called on Christians everywhere to push back against the excesses of modern society, which he said was “so often intoxicated by consumerism and hedonism, wealth and extravagance, appearances and narcissism”.
Christianity calls on believers “to act soberly — in other words, in a way that is simple, balanced, consistent, capable of seeing and doing what is essential,” said the 79-year old pope, leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
Condemning a “culture of indifference which not infrequently turns ruthless”, the pope asked Catholics to combine prayer with an attitude of “empathy, compassion and mercy” after a year of global unrest that saw one million migrants and refugees, mostly from Syria, reach Europe in search of a better life.
Amid an unusually heavy security presence in Saint Peter’s Square over fears of a jihadist attack, the visibly pale pope, who has been suffering from the flu, in a hoarse voice called on believers to resist fear.
“In a world which all too often is merciless to the sinner and lenient to the sin, we need to cultivate a strong sense of justice, to discern and to do God’s will,” the Argentine pontiff said.
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