"Tonight, our heart is in Bethlehem," Pope Francis declared during Christmas Mass on Sunday night, as festivities in the occupied West Bank city are overshadowed by the war between Israel and Hamas.
"Our heart, tonight, is in Bethlehem, where the prince of peace continues to be rejected by the losing logic of war, with the roar of weapons that, even today, prevents him from finding a place in the world," he said. the Argentine Pope from St. Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican.
According to the Vatican, around 6,500 faithful attended the midnight mass presided over by the Pope, in the presence of religious leaders and the diplomatic corps, while hundreds more followed it on giant screens installed outside, in St. Peter's Square.
The city of Bethlehem, a Christian sacred site where, according to tradition, Christ was born, has been abandoned by pilgrims this year and has canceled most Christmas celebrations because of the war.
At noon on Sunday, during the weekly Angelus prayer, the leader of the Catholic Church had already mentioned the conflict in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army intensified its bombing on Sunday in the south of the territory.
"We are close to our brothers and sisters who suffer from war: let us think of Palestine, of Israel, of Ukraine," he declared.
"With this news, I think it is important to hear a voice that tells us: 'please stop the war, be more peaceful'. We are in the 21st century, it is something horrible," Filipa Sousa, 20, told AFP. , a tourist originally from Porto, who followed the mass in St. Peter's Square.
The Argentine Jesuit will deliver his traditional blessing "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the city and the world") on Monday at 12:00 (local time), during which he usually reviews the conflicts in the world.
