Xmas 'hostage' to materialism
Pope Francis said that Christmas had been "taken hostage" by dazzling materialism that puts God in the shadows and blinds many to the needs of the hungry, the migrants and the war weary.
Francis, leading the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics into Christmas for the fourth time since his election in 2013, said in his Christmas Eve homily that a world often obsessed with gifts, feasting and self-centeredness needed more humility.
At the solemn but joyous service, attended by some 10,000 people as well as dozens of cardinals and bishops, Francis said the many in the wealthy world had to be reminded that the message of Christmas was humility, simplicity and mystery.
"Jesus was born rejected by some and regarded by many others with indifference," he said.
"Today also the same indifference can exist, when Christmas becomes a feast where the protagonists are ourselves, rather than Jesus; when the lights of commerce cast the light of God into the shadows; when we are concerned for gifts, but cold toward those who are marginalised."
He then added in unscripted remarks: "This worldliness has taken Christmas hostage. It needs to be freed."
Pope Francis urged peace around the world in his traditional Christmas address yesterday, calling for weapons in Syria to fall silent and offering comfort to victims of terrorism.
Addressing tens of thousands of worshippers gathered at the Vatican to hear the pontiff give his fourth "Urbi et Orbi" (To the City and The World) message, Francis said "far too much blood has been spilled" in Syria's nearly six-year war.
He also urged Israelis and Palestinians to "have the courage and the determination to write a new page of history, where hate and revenge give way to the will to build together a future of mutual understanding and harmony."
The Pope also urged peace in Iraq, Libya and Yemen -- "where their peoples suffer war and the brutality of terrorism" -- and expressed hope for an end to conflicts in Africa, including in Nigeria and South Sudan.
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