Pope calls for end to wars in Gaza, Ukraine as world celebrates Christmas
Somber mood in Vatican City as pontiff appeals for peace, decries global weapons trade; festivities in full swing as Florida holds annual ‘Surfing Santa’ event
People donned Santa caps on beaches, ski slopes and streets around the globe on Monday to celebrate Christmas, as Pope Francis called for an end to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine that this year have cast a shadow over one of the world’s favorite holidays.
Red and white Santa outfits appeared on surfers from Australia to Florida, on bicyclists in the smog-filled streets of New Delhi and intrepid souls braving chilly Channel waters for a holiday dip near Britain’s Dover.
In his annual Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” mass at the Vatican, Pope Francis called for an end “to war, to every war, to the very mindset of war, an aimless voyage, a defeat without victors, an inexcusable folly.”
May peace “come in Israel and Palestine, where war is devastating the lives of those peoples,” he said.
“I reiterate my urgent appeal for the liberation of those still being held hostage. I plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims, and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid,” he said.
“I implore peace for Ukraine. Let us renew our spiritual and human closeness to its embattled people,” he said, adding an appeal for humanitarian initiatives, dialogue and security to prevail over violence and death in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Congo and the Korean peninsula.
He called for governments and people of goodwill in the Americas in particular to address the “troubling phenomenon” of migration and its “unscrupulous traffickers” who take advantage of innocents just looking for a better life.
During his speech, he took particular aim at the weapons industry, which he said is fueling the conflicts around the globe with scarcely anyone paying attention.
“It should be talked about and written about, so as to bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet strings of war,” he said. “And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?”
The Gaza war made for a somber Christmas in Bethlehem, the city in the West Bank where Christians believe Jesus Christ was laid in a manger after being born more than 2,000 years ago.
The town did away with its giant Christmas tree, marching bands and flamboyant nativity scene that normally draw tourists, settling for just a few festive lights.
In the center of town, a huge Palestinian flag had been unfolded with a banner declaring, “The bells of Bethlehem ring for a ceasefire in Gaza.”
“A lot of people are dying for this land,” said Nicole Najjar, an 18-year-old student. “It’s really hard to celebrate while our people are dying.”
Inside Gaza, the horrid conditions were driving “rising desperation due to acute hunger,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.
The war in Gaza began with the deadly Hamas assault on Israel on October 7, in which thousands of Hamas-led terrorists poured into Israel from the Gaza Strip, massacring some 1,200 people, mostly civilians slaughtered amid brutal atrocities, and seizing around 240 hostages.
Israel launched an aerial campaign and a subsequent ground operation inside the Gaza Strip in response, vowing to eliminate Hamas, end the terror group’s 16-year rule, and return the hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has said that since the start of the war, more than 20,000 people have been killed. However, this number cannot be independently verified, and the health ministry doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians. Israel believes there to be some 8,000 Hamas or Hamas-affiliated operatives among the casualties, as well as civilians killed by misfired Palestinian rockets.
It is believed that 129 hostages remain in Gaza — not all of them alive.
A new tradition in Ukraine
Ukraine, invaded by Russia nearly two years ago, this year is celebrating Christmas on December 25 for the first time, jettisoning the traditional Orthodox date of January 7, which is feted in Russia.
“We believe that we really should celebrate Christmas with the whole world, far away, far away from Moscow. For me that’s the new message now,” said one smiling parishioner in Odesa, Olena, whose son is a medic on the front line.
The date change — moving away from the Julian calendar favored by the Orthodox Church — is part of numerous moves since the invasion to remove traces of the Russian and Soviet empires.
The Ukrainian military said that it had shot down 28 of the 31 drones that Russia launched on Christmas day at its neighbor, with no casualties reported.
Prayers in Turkey
In southern Turkey, much of which was devastated by an earthquake in February, faithful prayed for new beginnings.
“It’s important for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but it’s a very sad Christmas,” said Vehbi Tadrasgil, a 55-year-old who lost his wife and two of his three children in the quake that killed at least 50,000 people in Turkey and more than 5,000 in neighboring Syria.
“I hope that their souls are here, I am certain that our prayers rise to them,” he said in front of the ruins of a church at Antakya.
Twenty kilometers (12 miles) down the coast in Samandag, a generator powered the lights on a tree in front of the Saint-Ilyas church, which survived.
“After the earthquake, our community — 400 families — was annihilated. With this Christmas, we want to wish everyone rebirth, love, joy and peace. We must move forward, rebuild a new life,” said Father Yumurta.
“They say that with the birth of the child Jesus, a new life begins, a new beginning. For us too, here, it will be a new beginning,” he said.
Surfing Santas
In countries not afflicted by war or devastation, festive revelers opened presents and donned red and white Santa hats for a shot of holiday cheer.
In Sydney, Australia, residents and tourists headed to the beach to enjoy the heat of the Southern Hemisphere’s summer.
In Florida, thousands descended on Cocoa Beach for the annual “Surfing Santas” celebration that raises funds for a charity helping cancer patients travel for treatment and the local surf museum.
In Sri Lanka, the president granted amnesty to more than 1,000 convicts across the country to mark Christmas, prison officials said.
