Pope Francis has called for an end to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts in his Christmas Message, saying the world was suffering from a famine of peace report AFP and Reuters.

Delivering his tenth Christmas Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) blessing and message, he also urged people to look beyond the shallow holiday glitter and help the homeless, immigrants, refugees and the poor in their midst seeking comfort, warmth and food.

Let us see the faces of all those children who, everywhere in the world, long for peace he said, speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.

Let us also see the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who are experiencing this Christmas in the dark and cold, far from their homes due to the devastation caused by ten months of war he said, speaking to tens of thousands of people gathered in the square below.

He spoke just hours after air raid sirens wailed across Ukraine and a day after Ukraine said a Russian strike on the recently-liberated city of Kherson killed at least ten people and wounded another 58 in what President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned as wanton killing for pleasure.

May the Lord inspire us to offer concrete gestures of solidarity to assist all those who are suffering, and may he enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the thunder of weapons and put an immediate end to this senseless war! Pope Francis said.

The Ukraine conflict, he said, should not diminish concernfor people whose lives have been devastated by other conflictsor humanitarian crises, naming among others, Syria, Myanmar,Iran, Haiti and the Sahel region of Africa.

Our time is experiencing a grave famine of peace…he said. Francis called for a resumption of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land, the place of Jesus’ birth.

This year has seen the worst levels of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in more than a decade, with at least 150 Palestinians and more than 20 Israelis killed.

Courtesy: The observer