Pope Leo condemns Gaza conditions in unusually direct Christmas homily

Pope Leo denounced conditions for Palestinians in Gaza in his Christmas homily on Thursday, in an unusually direct appeal during a regular solemn, spiritual service on the day Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Leo, the first US pope, said the story of Jesus being born in a stable showed that God had “pitched his fragile tent” among the people of the world.

Leo, who is celebrating his first Christmas since being elected in May by the world’s cardinals to succeed the late Pope Francis, has a quieter, more diplomatic style than his predecessor and usually avoids political references in his sermons.

In a later Christmas blessing, the pope, who has made care for migrants a key theme of his early papacy, also lamented the situation for migrants and refugees “crossing the American continent”.

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Leo, who has previously criticized US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration, did not mention Trump. In a Christmas Eve homily on Wednesday, the Pope said that refusing to help the poor and strangers was tantamount to rejecting God himself.

Leo deplores the “ruins and open wounds” of war

The new pope has lamented conditions for Palestinians in Gaza several times recently and told reporters last month that the only solution to the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in October after two years of intense Israeli bombardment and military operations that followed a deadly attack by Hamas-led militants on Israeli communities in October 2023. Aid agencies say there is still very little aid in Gaza, where almost the entire population is homeless.

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At Thursday’s service to thousands in St Peter’s Basilica, Leo also lamented the conditions of the homeless around the world and the devastation caused by war in general.

“Fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tested by so many wars, ongoing or completed, leaving behind ruins and open wounds,” the Pope said.

“Fragile are the minds and lives of young people who are forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the folly of what is being asked of them and the lies that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths,” he said.

The Pope mourns the conflicts in Ukraine, Thailand and Cambodia

In an appeal on Thursday during the Pope’s Christmas and Easter “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message and blessing, Leo called for an end to all world wars.
Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to thousands of people in the square below, he lamented conflicts, political, social or military, in Ukraine, Sudan, Mali, Myanmar and Thailand and Cambodia, among others.

Leo said people in Ukraine, where Russian troops are threatening cities critical to the country’s eastern defenses, have been “tortured” by violence.

“May the cries of arms cease and may the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in honest, direct and respectful dialogue,” the Pope said.

For Thailand and Cambodia, where border fighting is in its third week with at least 80 dead, Leo called for the nations’ “ancient friendship” to be restored, “to work for reconciliation and peace.”