{"id":251109,"date":"2025-12-25T17:30:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T17:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/251109\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T17:30:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T17:30:18","slug":"pope-leo-decries-conditions-for-palestinians-in-gaza-in-first-christmas-sermon-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/251109\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo decries conditions for Palestinians in Gaza in first Christmas sermon \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo<\/a> \u200ddecried conditions for Palestinians<\/a> in Gaza<\/a> in his Christmas<\/a> sermon on Thursday, in an unusually direct appeal during what is normally a solemn, spiritual service on the day Christians across the \u200dglobe celebrate the birth of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Leo, the first US<\/a> pope, said the story of Jesus being born in a stable showed that God had \u201cpitched his fragile tent\u201d among the people of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Leo, celebrating his first Christmas after being \u200celected in May by the world\u2019s cardinals to succeed the late Pope Francis, has a quieter, more diplomatic style than his predecessor and usually refrains from making political references in his sermons.<\/p>\n

In a \u2060later Christmas blessing, the pope, who has made care for immigrants a key theme of his early papacy, also lamented the situation for \u200cmigrants \u200band \u200drefugees who \u201ctraverse the American continent\u201d.<\/p>\n

Leo, who has in the past criticised US president Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s immigration crackdown, did not mention Trump. In a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday, the pope said refusing to help the poor and strangers was tantamount to rejecting God himself.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe faithfull look at Pope Leo speaking from the main balcony of St Peter’s basilica on
\nChristmas day. Photograph: Andreas Solaro\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

The new pope has lamented the conditions for Palestinians in Gaza several times \u2060recently and told journalists last month that the only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel<\/a> and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

Israel and \u2060Hamas<\/a> agreed to a ceasefire in October after \u2060two years of intense Israeli bombardment and military operations that followed a deadly attack by Hamas<\/a>-led fighters on Israeli communities in October 2023. Humanitarian agencies say there is still too little aid getting into Gaza, where nearly the entire population is homeless.<\/p>\n

In \u200dThursday\u2019s service with thousands in St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, Leo also lamented conditions for the homeless across the globe and the destruction caused by war more generally.<\/p>\n

\u201cFragile is the flesh of defenceless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds,\u201d said the pope.<\/p>\n

\u201cFragile are the minds and lives of young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In an appeal on Thursday during the \u201cUrbi et Orbi\u201d (to the city and \u200cthe world) message and blessing given \u200cby the pope at Christmas and Easter, Leo called for an end to all global wars.<\/p>\n

Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter\u2019s Basilica to thousands of people in the square below, he lamented conflicts, political, social or military, in Ukraine, Sudan, Mali, \u200cMyanmar, and Thailand and Cambodia, among others.<\/p>\n

Leo said people in Ukraine, where Russian troops are threatening cities critical to the country\u2019s eastern defences, have been \u201ctormented\u201d by violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay the clamour of weapons \u2060cease, and may the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue,\u201d said the pope.<\/p>\n

For Thailand and Cambodia, where border fighting is in its third week with at least 80 killed, Leo asked that the nations\u2019 \u201cancient friendship\u201d be restored, \u201cto work towards reconciliation and peace\u201d. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo \u200ddecried conditions for Palestinians in Gaza in his Christmas sermon on Thursday, in an unusually direct…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,2512,16838,356,13,14,3761,69,6,71,3857,11,12,15,16,5,72,2513,2515,7,8,384,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-251109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-catholic-church","11":"tag-christmas","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-gaza-strip","16":"tag-hamas","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-israel","19":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-palestine","26":"tag-pope-francis","27":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topstories","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-world","32":"tag-world-news","33":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115781398031818084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}