Pope's somber message in Christmas under shadow of war

VATICAN CITY

Christians across the world celebrated Christmas on Dec. 25, with the mood darkened by wars and a massive attack on Ukraine by Russia, as well as a plane crash in Kazakhstan.

With the war in Gaza also showing no signs of ending, Pope Francis also called for peace in the Middle East during his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) speech in Rome.

Francis used his Christmas Eve mass at the Vatican to urge Christians to think of "the wars, of the machine-gunned children, of the bombs on schools or hospitals" after another year of raging conflicts.

But even before dawn broke Moscow was pummeling Ukraine with 170 missiles and drones in an attempt to take out Ukraine's ravaged energy grid, killing at least one person.

There was tragedy also in Russia when an Azerbaijan Airlines jet carrying 67 people from Baku to the Chechen capital Grozny crashed in western Kazakhstan, officials said, though 25 survivors have been reported.

In the biblical birthplace of Jesus, the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, celebrations among its Palestinian population were muted.

Since the war in Gaza began, Bethlehem has done away with its giant Christmas tree and the elaborate decorations that normally draw throngs of tourists, settling for just a few festive lights.

"This year we limited our joy," Bethlehem Mayor Anton Salman told AFP.

Prayers, including at the Church of the Nativity's famed midnight mass, were strictly of a religious nature.

The Latin patriarch, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told a small crowd on Dec. 24 that he had just returned from Gaza, where he "saw everything destroyed, poverty, disaster."

"But I also saw life, they don't give up. So you should not give up either. Never."

About 1,100 Christians live in Gaza, with hundreds gathering at a church there to pray for an end to the war.

"This Christmas carries the stench of death and destruction," said George al-Sayegh, who for weeks has sought refuge in the 12th-century Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City.

In Germany, Christmas was also a grim affair for many families after a deadly attack at a market, prompting President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to issue a message of healing.

"Hatred and violence must not have the final word," he said.

In Buenos Aires, a Christmas solidarity dinner for the homeless fed around three thousand people at a time when more than half of Argentina's population is affected by poverty.

In the United States, where the annual tradition of "tracking" Santa Claus swung into action, a U.S. Air Force general said there was no need to worry that recent mystery drone sightings might affect deliveries.

And in Paris, worshippers gathered at the Notre Dame cathedral for the first Christmas mass since its reopening following a devastating fire in 2019.