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VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis, leading Catholics in celebrating Christmas, said on Friday that people who are indifferent to the poor offend God, urging everyone to “look beyond all lights and decorations” and remember the needy.
On his ninth Christmas, Pope Francis celebrated a solemn mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for about 2,000 people, with limited attendance due to COVID-19 in nearly one-fifth the size of the years before the pandemic.
Minutes before the start of the Christmas Mass, Italy reported a second consecutive daily record of COVID-19 cases, with new infections reaching 50,599 cases per day.
Pope Francis, dressed in white, built his sermon on the theme that Jesus was born with nothing.
“Brothers and sisters, standing in front of the cradle, we look at what is central, beyond all the lights and decorations, which are beautiful. “We look at the child,” he said in a Mass sermon with more than 200 cardinals, bishops and priests. With the exception of the Pope, all participants wore masks.
Pope Francis, who turned 85 last week, said the baby Jesus born in poverty should remind people that service to others is more important than seeking status or social visibility, or spending a life in search. of success.
“It’s up to them (the poor) that he wants to be honored,” said Pope Francis, who has made protecting the poor a cornerstone of his papacy.
“On this night of love, let us have only one fear: that we may offend the love of God, hurt him by despising the poor with our indifference. “Jesus loves them very much and one day they will welcome us to heaven,” he said.
On Saturday, Pope Francis will deliver his blessing and message twice a year, “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world), from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica./VOA
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