During this Holy Year, Pope Francis has called on “all people of all nations” to find the strength “to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions” in his customary Christmas greeting, reports Breaking News.
The world’s problems this year are summed up in the pope’s “Urbi et Orbi” (To the City and the World) speech. Francis appealed for widespread reconciliation, “even (with) our enemies,” as Christmas fell on the first day of the 2025 Holy Year celebration, which he devoted to hope.
The pope addressed crowds of people below from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, saying, “I invite every individual, and all people of all nations … to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms, and to overcome divisions,” reports Breaking News.
The pope urged God’s kindness, which “unties every knot; it tears down every wall of division; it dispels hatred and the spirit of revenge,” in reference to the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, which he opened on Christmas Eve to begin the 2025 Jubilee.
Singling out Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, “especially in Gaza where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave,” as well as Lebanon and Syria “at this most delicate time,” he urged for the cessation of armaments in war-torn Ukraine and the Middle East, reports Breaking News.
On October 7, 2023, Francis reiterated his demands for the return of prisoners that Hamas had captured from Israel.
He mentioned the hardship of the people of Myanmar who were compelled to leave their homes due to “the ongoing clash of arms” and a fatal measles epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The pope also recalled hungry and war-torn youngsters, lonely old people, people who have lost their jobs, people who are persecuted for their religious beliefs, and those who are leaving their own countries, reports Breaking News.
As the Jubilee is anticipated to gather some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome, pilgrims lined up on Christmas Day to enter St. Peter’s Basilica through the great Holy Door.
During a Jubilee, which is a once-every-quarter-century custom that began in 1300, the faithful can get indulgences, or forgiveness for sins, by passing through the Holy Door, reports Breaking News.
In the wake of a devastating Christmas market assault in Germany, pilgrims complied with security measures before approaching the Holy Door. As they entered the basilica honouring St. Peter, the founder of the Roman Catholic Church, many stopped to touch the door and make the sign of the cross.
“You feel so humble when you go through the door that once you go through is almost like a release, a release of emotions,” said Blanca Martin, a pilgrim from San Diego. “… It’s almost like a release of emotions, you feel like now you are able to let go and put everything in the hands of God. See I am getting emotional. It’s just a beautiful experience,” reports Breaking News.
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