VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV on Thursday (Dec 25) urged Russia and Ukraine to search out the “braveness” to carry direct talks and spoke of the dire humanitarian state of affairs in Gaza in his first Christmas message.
The US pope, who was elected by fellow cardinals in Could after the dying of his predecessor Pope Francis, additionally condemned the “senselessness” of conflict and the “rubble and open wounds” it leaves behind.
Chatting with a crowd of some 26,000 individuals in St Peter’s Sq., the pope referred to as for “solidarity with and acceptance of these in want” in Europe – a potential reference to rising anti-immigration sentiment on the continent.
“Allow us to pray in a selected means for the tormented individuals of Ukraine,” he mentioned.
“Could the events concerned, with the assist and dedication of the worldwide neighborhood, discover the braveness to interact in honest, direct and respectful dialogue,” he added.
Russian and Ukrainian officers have spoken individually in latest weeks to US negotiators about proposals to finish the conflict began by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Tens of hundreds have been killed, japanese Ukraine decimated and hundreds of thousands compelled to flee their properties.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week outlined key points of a plan to finish the battle after US talks.
However Russian President Vladimir Putin has to this point proven no willingness to compromise, doubling down on his hardline calls for.
“RETURN OF LIFE”
In his first Christmas homily as pontiff, Leo addressed the dismal circumstances in Gaza, the place tons of of hundreds of persons are nonetheless residing in short-term shelters in wintry circumstances weeks after a fragile ceasefire took maintain.
“How … can we not consider the tents in Gaza, uncovered for weeks to rain, wind and chilly,” the pope mentioned, including that the territory’s inhabitants “don’t have anything left and have misplaced all the things.”
The UN has mentioned that an estimated 1.3 million individuals at present want shelter help in Gaza and has warned of the growing danger of hypothermia as temperatures dip.
“The conflict, in all its varieties, has been harsh on everybody residing on this land,” Elias al-Jalda, a Palestinian Christian from Gaza, instructed AFP after attending a Christmas mass at Gaza’s solely Roman Catholic Church late on Wednesday.
“We hope this 12 months will mark the start of a brand new part – one outlined by a whole finish to the conflict and the return of life to Gaza,” mentioned Jalda, considered one of dozens attending the mass.
