Updated at 12.25pm
POPE FRANCIS HAS called for humanitarian aid access in Syria and “social harmony” in South Sudan on his first Christmas in the Vatican after months of shaking up the papacy with his humble style and common touch.
Francis also pleaded for divine aid to rescue child soldiers “robbed of their childhood” and for peace in the conflict-torn Central African Republic which he said was “often forgotten and overlooked”.
In a wide-ranging address known as the “Urbi et Orbi” (To the City and to the World) blessing that touched on many conflicts, the Argentine pope invited non-believers to join in a “desire” for peace in the world.
“Too many lives have been shattered in recent times by the conflict in Syria, fueling hatred and vengeance,” the 77-year-old pope told a crowd of tens of thousands of faithful in St Peter’s Square.
“Let us continue to ask the Lord to spare the beloved Syrian people further suffering, and to enable the parties in conflict to put an end to all violence and guarantee access to humanitarian aid,” he said.
The conflict in Syria is estimated to have killed more than 126,000 people since it first started out as peaceful anti-regime protests 2011 and the violence there has unsettled the Middle East as a whole.
A grim reminder of the tensions ravaging the region came this morning when a car bomb outside a Baghdad church after a Christmas service left at least 17 people dead — the latest in a string of daily attacks.
“Heal the wounds of the beloved country of Iraq,” the pope said in his prayer.
Fighting between army and rebel forces also raged in South Sudan, where thousands are believed to have been killed over the past week as the UN moves to boost its peacekeeping force to stave off a full civil war.
The first Latin American pope asked for “social harmony in South Sudan, where current tensions have already caused numerous victims and are threatening peaceful coexistence in that young state”.
The Argentinian also said Central Africa was being “torn apart by a spiral of violence and poverty”, called for immigrants to be given “acceptance and assistance”, urged an end to the scourge of human trafficking and prayed for typhoon victims in the Philippines.
Francis has been riding a wave of popularity following his momentous election as leader of the world’s Catholics in March and was “Person of the Year” by Time magazine and the US gay rights publication The Advocate due to his now-famous remark on gay people: “Who am I to judge?”
In his first Christmas Eve mass in the Vatican, the 77-year-old pontiff highlighted the role played by shepherds in the Nativity, returning to the theme of compassion for the poor and humility that has been hallmark of his papacy.
Shepherds were the first to witness the birth of Jesus “because they were among the last, the outcast,” he said.
Francis also called on Catholic believers to open their hearts and struggle against the “spirit of darkness.”
“If our heart is closed, if we are dominated by pride, deceit, self-seeking, then darkness falls within us.”
[Gregorio Borgia/AP/Press Association Images]
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