VATICAN CITY : Pope Francis used his Christmas message Sunday to lament the “icy winds of war” buffeting humanity and to make an impassioned plea for an immediate end to the fighting in Ukraine, a 10-month-old conflict he decried as “senseless.”
At noon in Rome, Francis delivered the traditional “Urbi et Orbi″ (Latin for ”’to the city and to the world”) speech from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
On a sunny day, with the midday temperature reaching about 15 degrees Celsius (nearly 60 F), warm for a Roman winter, some 70,000 tourists, pilgrims and residents of the city packed St. Peter’s Square to listen to the pontiff and to receive his blessing.
Francis also cited long-running conflicts in the Middle East, including in the Holy Land, “where in recent months violence and confrontations have increased, bringing death and injury in their wake.” In addition, he prayed for a lasting truce in Yemen and for reconciliation in Iran and Myanmar, and cited violence and conflicts in Africa’s Sahel region.
