Pope Leo XIV condemned the “wounds” left in the world by warmongering speeches

Published at: 25/12/2025 01:50 PM

During his Christmas homily, this Thursday, December 25, Pope Leo XIV condemned the path of war and the “open wounds” left by conflicting discourses in the world.

At the mass celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, the religious leader referred especially to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and noted that: “fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tested by so many ongoing or finished wars, leaving debris and open wounds.”

Leo XIV also recalled the thousands of Gazans who face winter in extreme conditions, refugees in tents exposed to rain and cold.

At this ceremony, which a pope had not celebrated on December 25 since 1994, the pontiff affirmed that Jesus asks to touch human misery and the suffering flesh of the most fragile. “Fragile are the minds of young people forced to take up arms. On the front lines, they notice the senselessness of what is being asked of them and the lie that permeates the speeches of those who send them to die,” he added.

He said, as reported by the newspaper Úlmas Noticias, that peace begins when the pain of others crosses the heart and shatters individual certainties. “The peace of God is born of a welcome sob and an overheard cry; it is born among ruins that cry out for solidarity,” he said. He also indicated that Christmas encourages a missionary Church through the paths traced by the word of God.

After the mass, Pope Leo XIV pronounced the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. The pontiff asked Ukraine and Russia to find the courage to talk sincerely and directly, in order to end almost four years of war.

Mazo News Team