Pope Francis calls for peace in Christmas message as conflicts rage around the world

Pope Francis called for peace around the world and for global conflicts to end in his annual “Urbi et Orbi” Christmas message to the faithful.Speaking from the central balcony of St.Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Francis reiterated his call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war and beseeched the Islamic terror group to release the remaining hostages, urging “the doors of dialogue and peace [to] be flung open.”The pontiff, 88, also addressed the ongoing war in Ukraine, calling for “boldness needed to open the door to negotiation” in the conflict that has gone on for nearly three years.“May the sound of weapons be silenced in Ukraine,” he told the massive assembled crowd, saying there was a need for “gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.”The pope marked his 12th Christmas as head of the Roman Catholic Church by also calling for an end to bloodshed and political upheaval in global trouble spots including Lebanon, Mali, Mozambique, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua.He opened the great Holy Door at St.

Peter’s, too, to mark the start of the 2025 Jubilee — a year-long celebration that happens every quarter-century which allows pilgrims who enter to be forgiven for their sins....