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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 faithful gather ahead of the Pope’s address [Gregorio Borgia/AP/Press Association Images]
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.
Pope Francis holds a statue of baby Jesus as he celebrates the Christmas Eve Mass [Gregorio Borgia/AP/Press Association Images]
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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Whatever the views of the author of this article the pope should have been given his title of Pope Francis in the headline.
They wouldn’t say Elizabeth instead of Queen Elizabeth would they?
It’s just ignorance really.
If you don’t recognise a hierarchical power structure of a religious cult why would you use the title?
He’ll be s better man than you any day.
@Darth – will you answer in reference to the Queen Elizabeth example. Should she be addressed as Elizabeth if you don’t recognise the crown?
“Address me by my proper title, ya little bollix!” ~ Bishop Brennan.
Bergoglio is cool, but he might have been a bit too cosy with the fascist regime in Argentina.
Petr the Roman Catholic Church has a history of snuggling up with fascist regimes. That’s how they’ve always rolled ! They talk about free will yet historically they fought hard against the rise of democracy and socialism in Europe.
Yes I would call her Lizzie as I don’t recognise or give any credence to the british monarchy
F*** the Catholic church and the bloody titles them bestow upon themselves. People call Sean Brady “your grace”; a man who conspired in the silencing of children who’d been raped. You couldn’t make it up.
It’s Christmas day lads. At least take one day off from church bashing on the journal. All that bitterness and resentment inside ye is not healthy!
Nice to see the trolls like petr and darth getting red thumbed for their usual drivel. What sad little people they are who obviously have no lives worth living outside of their computers. Shame on your parents for raising such little trolls.
I love watching them get wound up. This place is normally their stronghold for ridiculing people that have beliefs so it must really irritate them. And this is coming from a non-believer himself.
Petr champions himself as a liberal Leftist. His exact words’F**k the Catholic church and the bloody titles they bestow upon themselves’
Exchange the words Catholic Church for Islam or to be more precise Sunni Islam and Petr would be calling you a bigot,racist or Islamophobe.
Petr himself is obviously a bigot and a massive hypocrite to boot.
Careful there Al. You don’t want to sink to their level.
Who let the dogs out? lol
I’m a critic of the institutional church; I don’t tar all Catholics or Christians with the same brush which is what you and many others do re Muslims. Embarrassing that this has to be explained to you — you are either dim or pretending to be in order to stir a bit of sh!t.
Good work again Pete exposing your own hypocrisy. Your remark above above re brush tarring would appear to contradict your generalisation elsewhere on this thread that states ‘the catlicks are out in force today’ many happy returns!
Darkness is any kind of hate and intolerance and bigotry, so if everyone can follow what he just said then 2014 would be a better year, religions need to all get along, criminalize all fundamentalists from all religions and just be nicer people, just because you practice a religion doesn’t mean you’re following the teachings.
Yeah and that Roman lot could start it off by giving up all the paedophiles they’ve got hidden away. Two chances of that happening though!
The Jihadists probably get too much bad press as well do you reckon roger?
Buck the jihadists don’t even get press. We get the opinions of Americans, British and Irish on the Middle East. Never people from the Middle East itself.
If you do follow Middle East news then what happened at a wedding party in Yemen last week? It’s world news
I think it’s trying to communicate
I do think the world needs to get serious about violence towards the Christian faith in Africa & the Middle East.
I am in now way violent nor would I ever wish violence upon any living creature however its a bit rich getting so worried about religious violence Christians started it – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades
The fact that anyone who said any thing against the church in the above comments got red thumbed shows what sheep people really are. How can anyone sit in a church and listen to that bull sh## is beyond me…instead of reading the bible read a history book
The most evil organisation on earth still commands huge support, and parents are still dragging their kids to meet these evil monsters. It’s unbelievable.
I disagree Kieran…DO read the bible people…read the story of Lot in Soddom, read the section of the Bible that bans homosexuality (Leviticus) and you’ll see it also prescribes capital punishment as the penalty for gathering sticks and wearing two diff types of cloth.
Nothing will turn you away from organized religion like a cover to cover reading of the Bible.
Religion claims to be able to answer the most profound questions, it claims Science is about the ”how” and it’s about the why. Why are we here? What’s the meaning of life? etc but when you read the bible you’ll see NONE of that is addressed, instead it’s filled with creepy stories that are just weird, odd lessons (like how to correctly beat your slave) and evil morality (infanticide, murder, genocide, gang rape, animal cruelty). Read it and you’ll see that God or no, organized religion at the least is a load of horsesh1t.
Rodrigo, you don’t like organised religion – Big deal! How would you rate al Qaeda and the Taliban etc by comparison. I’m curious to know.
I see your point Ryan..
Buckwheat. I have no problem with organised religion! The Roman Catholic organisation is no more than a gang of child abusers pretending to be a religion.
That doesn’t answer my question Rodrigo.
John, i red thumbed yerself and Kieran’s remarks as you and your ilk who post here regularly are as fanatical in your anti-religious rhetoric as those that you categorise as being ‘brainwashed.’ And I would in now way be religious btw
Buckwheat your right i am fanatical about my anti religion its the biggest hindrance to humanity thats their has ever been.if mankind realised that we are responsible for our actions and inactions and not a imaginary man sitting up on the clouds the world you be a better place.so next time you see a starving child in Africa on tv and you say il say a prayer for them……how many times has it been answered i do agree with one thing he does work in mysterious ways ?
John, you infer I am uneducated because I disagree with your outlook – a very constructive response indeed! You should have called me a troll as well for good measure!
Kieran, if you read again my last post to which you are replying – you will see that it states I am not in anyway religious so no, I won’t be saying any prayers as you suggest. I find your type of posts as equally tiresome as that of the pro-religious / pro-life etc faction.
John, I think you would find it impossible to argue with anyone, you are very brave indeed hurling insults from behind your keyboard because you’re incapable of constructive debate. Hope you had a terrific Christmas sweetpea.
I’ll give limerick coco a bell in jan – we can continue our constructive exchange then will we as your so keen to personalise your conversation. I’d recommend you update your fb settings as well – you’re online media savvy is about as good as your debating skills.
Ask priest abused victims about ‘the spirit of darkness’.
I’m really starting to like this guy, who is, in the grand scheme of things, quite liberal minded.
Now what would really make people sit up and take notice would be a Vatican III where he came out and said ”I order all Cardinals, Bishops and Priests to focus 100% of our message on the good aspects of the bible, (the few..tiny) parts of the NT that preach forgiveness, redemption, aid for the poor. Any cardinal or pastor that makes a public statement about homosexuality will be excommunicated”. Now, something that radical might stop the decline.
Sure atheists are growing, but another bigger group are those who beleive in a God, but don’t want to get bogged down in detail about who was a human incarnation of God and what he said 2000 years ago and was his mother a virgin etc. The conservative social dogma is pushing those moderate people away.
Only a radical change of message and emphasis will bring um back. Your church is dying and you don’t seem to notice or care, Vatican III should be the very minimum that ought to be done.
Religious Tripe, Xmas is about having a ball and not about the belief in fictitious biblical characters.
It’s about that for some, and something else for others. Those of us more skeptical of religious mythology should work, IMO, on a way of getting our point across in a civil way, free of the derision and smugness that often seems to dominate these debates.
I know it’s hard to look at someone who is, from our perspective, not thinking rationally (but that’s hardly an issue limited to religion, half the political opinions out there are based on irrational impulses) but we won’t convince anyone by taking a smug superior tone with them.
Jer.. Go to work so.. If you dont believe in Christ you should not be a hypocrit and celebrate CHRISTMAS…
What’s smug and superior about commenting on sexual abuse?
Sinead, Christmas is merely a modified pagan tradition. It’s about as Christian as a pentagram.
Jason… Go to work
“If you dont believe in Christ you should not be a hypocrit and celebrate CHRISTMAS”
Right Sinead,you do know that christ wasn’t actually born on the 25th of December,so in fact christ really has nothing to do with the 25th of December ???
Get up off your knees, Sinead.
We Catholics celebrate the birth of Christ our Saviour on the 25th of December and we have been doing that for centuries.. Simples..
Today a Saviour had been born to us.. He is Christ the Lord..
Happy Christmas Ru.. I hope you experience the peace and love of Christ today
Are you so sure Sinead. Nobody knows when the character Jesus was born it was never written in the New Testament . Here’s some facts about Christmas :
http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm
“We Catholics celebrate the birth of Christ our Saviour on the 25th of December and we have been doing that for centuries.. Simples..”
Yes I am well aware of this fact but the question is, do you know why you celebrate on this day, when although there is no exact date, according to the bible, jesus was most definitely not born in December ???
Surely as a Catholic,you must know the reason for this and “doing it for centuries” is not a proper answer, that just tells me,that you follow blindly,without question and have a serious lack of understanding of that you are following.
@ Sinead
Jog on ya flute!
Sinead your wasting your time arguing with these lads. The smug superior tone that Ryan described many atheists as using in his comment above is very evident in their comments, anyway happy Christmas and god bless ye all, believers and non believers!
Joe Mahon.. You are right.. God love them they are very angry with the world and take it out on us believers.. Happy Christmas to you
“Go to work so.. If you dont believe in Christ you should not be a hypocrit and celebrate CHRISTMAS”
I’m not angry with anybody but I do find it ironic that you,firstly order somebody to “go to work”,in the most unchristian like manner because they don’t subscribe to your belief and then go on to call them a hypocrite,when at the same time talking about celebrating something you obviously know nothing about.
So rather than making accuses of victimization,try and answer the questions.You claim to be a Catholic, surely this will be a doddle for you???
Ru.. I was at Mass last night with my 5 yr old daughter and the message was to open your heart to experience the love of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Thats what i try to do. And that is what God will judge me on. I wont be required to pass any exams on the Old Testament or know what age Moses was when he died or what were the dimensions of Noahs ark. You dont need a degree in the Bible to be a good Catholic
Then the next day,you talk down to somebody and call them a hypocrite for not sharing your belief.It sounds like you wasted your time in fairness,because although you seem to remember the message, but practicing it is a different story.
I know you “dont need a degree in the Bible to be a good Catholic” but a basic understanding would be useful if you are going to be so arrogant.
Arrogant?.. I dont think i am.. You dont seem to think i am much of a Catholic.. You are correct Ru.. I could be a whole lot better.. But i am trying..
I am not the perfect wife either.. But i am trying my best.. Making mistakes and learning from them.. But my husband seems happy enough….. Most of the time..
You do know that there is no such thing as a “good Catholic” that is the point,perpetual guilt and sin??? Why not strive to become a better human being,at least then you don’t have to feel guilty for not judging homosexuals.
Your relationship with your husband,is between you and your husband,a private matter,as should your relationship with god.
I never seen a poor priest, sure didn’t they lock the gates of the church in the time of the famine to keep the poor out.
For that matter most bishops look fat from over indulgence . The pope could do with losing a few pounds also. No doubt he’ll have a big feast today . Break out the gold plates !
Pope Francis what a lovely man
Working for a terrible company
All popes are the same they talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.
…em well this guy has pretty much walked the walk to be fair!
Will prayers actually achieve anything serious question ?
Ok, so they are not totally useless then.
Its a mental thing. Its like convincing yourself something and the comfort that satisfaction gives. Whether it be an illusion/fiction or real etc…
Judging by the thumbs, the Catlicks are out if force today! lol
Yes Peadar – the only reason anyone would possibly red thumb you is if they subscribe to one of the many ideologies you revel in sneering at
I wasn’t just referring to my comments, you absolute idiot.
True to form keyboard warrior as always! Straight in with the personalised insult you petty little man. Lol. Just stick to your usual anti Christian / anti Semite / jihadi apologist tripe that you usually espouse on this site. Happy holidays. X
Good man Pedro, spreading cheer on Xmas Day.
Have a good one!!
“Straight in with the personalised insult you petty little man.”
You don’t do irony, I see.
Cheers Justin. Same to you.
I wouldn’t waste any irony on you my dear fellow.
Facepalm.
OMG trolltastic !
Petr you are a Leftist bigot.Constantly on this site defending and justifying the excesses of radical Islam while at the same time ridiculing and mocking the native religion of this country.If posters on this site talked about Islam the way you talk about Christianity you would be the first to condenm them as ‘racist’, ‘bigots’ or Islamophobic,your typical go to labels/slurs.
Self-loathing Western Leftists like you should do us all favour and move to North Korea or Saudi Arabia.
LOL
Snappy comeback Peter!
Petr you have shown time and again you’re an unrivalled tw@t. Go away.
And Happy Christmas to you too my anonymous, cowardly friend!
Haha! Apparently I’m lost to darkness. Sound you big Argentinian fairy
The chap used to be a bouncer so I reckon he’ll be able for a little keyboard warrior.
Kevin,
Racist & homophobic in one sentence.
And you criticise Francis!!!!
I didn’t realise argentinians were a separate race
I’ve nothing against Argentinians haha! Just one argentinian.
Kevin thats Argentinans and jewish people youve insulted in a few days. Youre on a roll lad.
Take away the s your misinterpreting everything, and the Jewish? How?
No problem with being homophobic then?
If anyone is guilty of been homophobic its the catholic church. I have protested for gay rights in the past and am an advocate for equality. I say fairy because a fairy is a fictional character much like god or the holy spirit – Look up the word before such drastic assumptions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy
You are seriously trying to tell me that you were calling Francis a “big Argentine God”?
I don’t think so Kevin, homophobic it is.
Haha no I’m trying to tell you I referenced him to a fictional character and used god as an example of a fictional character. I clearly told you I support gay rights so stop been such a simpleton.
Our hearts are closed, we dominate by pride, deceit and are self-seeking, the darkness falls within us. That sums up the Catholic Church to a tee.
Unfortunately lamenting towards clouds won’t save these young children :(
Just read through alot of the comments here, to all you anti church people, how many of you gave or accepted a “merry Christmas” and or gift?
I for one accepted presents. If people want to give me free stuff who am I to blame.
Also when someone says merry Christmas I have the respect to say happy holidays.
Why doesn’t he pray for all the children robbed of their childhood by all the sick perverted priests!!
How do you know he doesn’t?
Again how would praying help ?
Again how would praying help ?
Religious is only thing that divided humanity. If we wipe it from this world everyone will be equal. Human being need to think with their heart before hurting someone else. One world one man one heart. Peace will make it way.. love everybody. … love come from the heart. …….
Humanity is divided in many ways.
I find the biggest excuse of division been religion.
have your say