Pope Francis delivered the message on Tuesday (12/25/2018), during his Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi papal address at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
VATICAN CITY, TUESDAY – Pope Francis has encouraged people around the world to accept differences as an asset. Differences were a blessing, not a threat. The Pope also called for reconciliation in areas of conflict.
Pope Francis delivered the message on Tuesday (12/25/2018), during his Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi papal address at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
The Pope also wished for “Fraternity among people with different ideas, yet capable of respecting and listening to one another”. He also highlighted the divisiveness caused by migration, saying that God wished for love, acceptance and dignity for immigrants. All people shared humanity in “a great variety of races, languages and cultures”.
“Our differences, then, are not a detriment or a danger; they are a source of richness,” he said.
He urged Israelis and Palestinians “to resume dialogue and undertake a journey of peace that could put an end to a conflict that for over seventy years had rent the land chosen by the Lord to show his face of love”. He also urged the international community to find “a political solution” for Syria and to reach a truce in Yemen to “finally bring relief to all those children and people exhausted by war and famine”.
‘Social harmony’
The Pope called for social harmony in Nicaragua and Venezuela amid persistent political conflicts. He also prayed for Africa, “where millions of persons were refugees or displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance and food security”. The Pope urged “a peace respectful of the rights of every nation” in Ukraine.
During Christmas Eve Mass, Pope Francis sharply rebuked world powers’ deadly ignorance of violence, suffering and poverty. He also urged people of the world to counter consumerism, which led to constant greed, with modesty. “We live not to consume and hoard, but to give and share,” he said.
In Indonesia, Christmas was celebrated peacefully. Christmas sermons at many churches called for peace, tolerance, solidarity and abandoning corruption.
Jakarta Archbishop Mgr. Ignatius Suharyo said that Indonesians should continue to foster tolerance in light of the 2019 election year. He hoped Christians and adherents of all other religions would remain united in maintaining harmony by avoiding slander and lies.
“The people must engage in democracy wisely, by not using religion as a tool to gain power. The highest democratic value is the greater good,” he said.
Ignatius said that fostering tolerance was a shared duty. People should understand and learn about the basic values of humanity: respect for life and human dignity, ideas for the common good and solidarity, as well as caring for the poor and the weak. “On the other hand, leaders and officials must leave behind corrupt behavior, as it will only lead to public suffering and the destruction of moral awareness and public civility,” he said.
In East Java, around a dozen members of the Youth Gusdurian Community of Malang joined Tuesday’s Christmas celebration at the Bhakti Luhur School for Special Needs Children.
The visit, called the “Christmas Peaceful Safari”, aims to foster interfaith tolerance. “Today, we want to get to know the school’s students. We want to see, how do we manage persons with disabilities?” said Gusdurian Community Malang coordinator Rio Ardin Armadha Putra.
In Papua, Christmas celebrations are not ceremonies that merely commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, and the occasion is also used to build peace.
Father James Kosay of Abepura Good Shepherd Church in Jayapura said that fatal security incidents commonly occurred towards the end of the year in Papua. Christians in the easternmost province prayed for peace in Papua. “The local people hope that peace in Papua is not just a dream. The government and all relevant parties must work together in taking concrete steps to achieve peace in Papua,” he said (AP/REUTERS/RAZ/SYA/KOR/WER/BRO/ZAK/E05/E07/E16/E17/E20)
