Pope Francis calls for global peace at Christmas nativity event in Vatican
VATICAN CITY, December 7, 2024 (WAFA) – In a ceremony held at the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis led the annual nativity scene unveiling, featuring a unique display crafted by Palestinian artisans from Bethlehem.
This year’s nativity scene, a symbol of peace and hope, was made under the auspices of the Palestinian Presidential Committee for Church Affairs, the Palestinian Embassy to the Vatican, and Dar Al-Kalima University, in collaboration with the Beitcharilo Center.
During the event, Pope Francis was joined by Ramzi Khouri, member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee and head of the Palestinian Presidential Committee for Church Affairs.
Khouri conveyed the heartfelt greetings of the Palestinian people, represented by President Mahmoud Abbas, and expressed gratitude to Pope Francis for his ongoing efforts to end the genocide in Gaza and his steadfast support for the Palestinian cause.
A special moment came when two Palestinian children, representing the committee, presented Pope Francis with a Bethlehem Star award. The gesture was a powerful reminder of the suffering and sorrow endured by Palestinian children amid the ongoing Israeli war and blockade in Gaza.
In his address, Pope Francis appealed for an end to the war, saying, "Enough wars, enough violence! Did you know that one of the most profitable industries here is weapons manufacturing? Profit from killing. Enough wars!"
He expressed solidarity with those suffering worldwide due to the ravages of war, offering a prayer for peace: "As our eyes fill with tears, we lift up our prayers for peace, that peace may reign over the entire world, and for all people whom God loves."
The nativity scene, designed to draw global attention to the suffering in the Holy Land, stands at nearly 10 feet tall and features figures of the Holy Family carved from olive wood.
Notably, the nativity's baby Jesus is dressed in the Palestinian keffiyeh, and a Bethlehem Star, crafted from mother-of-pearl, bears the Latin and Arabic inscription, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to all people."
Following the nativity ceremony, a Mass for peace and the cessation of hostilities in Palestine was held at the Angeli Chapel. The service, led by Father Ibrahim Faltas, Deputy Custodian of the Holy Land, alongside Father Ibrahim Shomali and Monsignor Marco, was attended by numerous diplomatic and political figures.
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American tradcath tourists are gonna love this one lol
American tradcath tourists
I think one of the guys who did the soundtrack for Halo 2 became one of those tradcatholic tourists and was surprised by the fact that Catholicism is not just a more conservative version of Protestantism, but a real religion with a leader and strict rules that everyone has to follow, as well as some things that are more progressive than the usual US Protestantism.
In 2013, Hall converted to Catholicism, later leaving Hollywood in 2020. In 2021, Hall stated that he and his family had moved to a farm in the Midwest, so as to undertake a vow of poverty.
What? Pretty sure nowadays only priests, nuns and monks take a vow of porverty.
In December 2022, Hall was temporarily banned on Twitter after posting Tweets in support of marital debt and corporal punishment of minors. He followed up on the ban through his Instagram stating: "The truth will always be unpopular. The truthful will always be persecuted. But eternity will always be sweet". In September 2024, Hall was criticized for referring to his daughters as "dishwashers" in an X post about the birth of his son, who he called his "heir".
In June 2020, Hall was arrested for inhaling an air duster, which a police investigation ruled as an attempted alcohol poisoning. He was held and released on a $1,500 bond at Parker County Jail.
me, an idiot, spending several confused minutes on Carl Switzer's wikipedia page
If they don't like it, they'll just do what Catholics have always done and follow an antipope instead. Right now there's one in Quebec, another who's head of the Palmarian Catholic Church in Spain and several Sedevacantists who all think that Pius XII. was the last legtimate Roman Catholic pope, but can't agree which one of them is the real deal.
Good talking, now do something. I don't know how much material power the pope has now, but for sure all that wealth and all that influence could be used to ensure some actual change, or at least alleviate the suffering of the people.
He could take it back to the old days and declare a Crusade to liberate Jerusalem I guess
Biden’s a Catholic, and one that will be dying in the near future. I feel like the pope could use some leverage there.
Excommunicating him for crusading would be the funniest thing that could happen to old Joe
clearly biden's childhood catechism is no match for his insatiable bloodlust. i don't think it would amount to much.
Oh so we're back on the grandfather clock's pendulum swing back in the direction of "pope's okay". Wonder what future news will punt it back the other way.
Personally I've never thought of Francis as okay. He's been better than previous recent popes but the bar was very, very, very low. I posted the pic because I found it purely by chance in a Bluesky post in Portuguese. Also - the American media is entirely ignoring it. It's what they always do for anything even remotely pro-Palestinian.
It's going to be very weird after Trump gets inaugurated because liberals will then remember that Palestinians exist and are human begins. And Trump is worse! If people had voted for Kamala...
I mean the last pope was literally in the hitler youth so yea, the bar literally couldn't get any lower
I'd be surprised if the libs suddenly gave a shit about Gaza at this point. As far as I'm willing to predict, they'll be Islamophobic and say the Palestinians are getting what they deserved while shitting themselves in a fuss over literally anything involving Ukraine not sacrificing more skulls for the skull throne
He's still in charge of one of the biggest and most powerful CSA rings on earth
He’s never going to be good by Marxist or leftist standards, but in my perhaps biased Catholic opinion I think he is really trying to reform the Church and set it on a fresh path, but he is also playing a balancing act with thousands of years of Church history and tradition and the more reactionary elements of the Church.
The Luce mascot really does illustrate the driving force of reform in the catholic church.
Yeah, it should've been designed to look like the popemobile but in wheelchair form
Papa got the chair-ah with the wheel-ah.
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He's called "Papa" in other languages.
Well he was selected because they hoped he would die, there was leaked conversations about him living only 12 months. I remember Michael S Judge saying the guy they wanted was caught up in a trafficking scandal at that moment.
Fun Fact: the Youngest Pope was elected at 20.. (well it was bought) and he got elected 3 times all in all..
This reminds me that ISSreal is going to commit their favorite pastime the holiday season: bombing them extra hard on their holliest days to cause even further cultural trauma. Bet we'll see even more footage of Isrealis watching bombs how americans watch fireworks
The pope is symbolically connecting Jesus to Palestinians. A top level comment in thread says the pope needs to do something and I entirely agree. Symbolism is all fine and good but action is far better.
What exactly could the pope do that isn't symbolic? That's a genuine question.
Excommunicate Biden was mentioned and that seems like it could be useful.
Vatican has been recently attempting to get more in contact with Asian Catholics, I think it's the region where Catholicism has been slowly growing, which is probably the reason why they released that anime-esque mascot. The Vatican also recognizes Palestine as a country, I think pope is attempting to show his support for Palestine while attempting to gain support from the Palestinians and other Arabs nations and groups.
baby jesus is a fucking antisemite!!! kill the nazi baby jesus!!!! that manger belongs to israel!!!!
One of the few times in history that accusations of antisemitism against a pope will be false.
Merry Christmas
