Pope Francis condemns abortion, terrorism in Christmas message

In his Christmas message, Pope Francis urged Christians “to allow the Child in the manger” to “challenge us” to care for children who have been forsaken by the world.

“If we want to celebrate Christmas authentically, we need to contemplate this sign: the frail simplicity of a tiny newborn child, the meekness with which he is placed in a manger, the tender affection with which he is wrapped in his swaddling clothes,” Francis said during mass at the Vatican. “That is where God is.”

Francis condemned both abortion and terrorism in his remarks.

Francis urged the Church to care for children who are “lying not in a crib, caressed with affection by their mothers and fathers, but in squalid “mangers that devour dignity.”

“Children who hide underground to escape bombardment, on the pavements of large cities, in the hold of a boat overladen with immigrants… Let us allow ourselves to be challenged by those children who are not allowed to be born, by those who cry because no one relieves their hunger, by those who hold in their hands not toys, but weapons,” he said.

Francis said Christians should “pause to gaze upon the crib, and relive in our imagination the birth of Jesus: light and peace, dire poverty and rejection.”

“With the shepherds, let us enter into the real Christmas, bringing to Jesus all that we are, our alienation, our unhealed wounds, our sins,” he said. “Then, in Jesus, we will enjoy the taste of the true spirit of Christmas: the beauty of being loved by God. With Mary and Joseph, let us pause before the manger, before Jesus who is born as bread for my life. Contemplating his humble and infinite love, let us simply tell him: Thank you. Thank you because you have done all this for me.”