“URBI ET ORBI” MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS CHRISTMAS 2018
Central Loggia of the Vatican Basilica
[…]
May the Child Jesus allow the beloved and beleaguered country of Syria once again
to find fraternity after these long years of war. May the international community work
decisively for a political solution that can put aside divisions and partisan interests,
so that the Syrian people, especially all those who were forced to leave their own
lands and seek refuge elsewhere, can return to live in peace in their own country.
My thoughts turn to Yemen, in the hope that the truce brokered by the international
community may finally bring relief to all those children and people exhausted by war
and famine.
I think too of Africa, where millions of persons are refugees or displaced and in need
of humanitarian assistance and food security. May the Holy Child, the King of Peace,
silence the clash of arms and allow a new dawn of fraternity to rise over the entire
continent, blessing the efforts of all those who work to promote paths of reconciliation
in political and social life.
[…]
