Lamenting \u201cthe winds of war\u201d blowing around the world, Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Monday called for a two-state solution to find peace in the Middle East and prayed that confrontation can be overcome on the Korean Peninsula.<\/p>\n
The pope took particular aim at areas of global tension where President Donald Trump is playing a critical role. Trump\u2019s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital has ignited fresh violence in the Middle East, while confrontation with North Korea over its nuclear tests has escalated tensions in Asia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe winds of war are blowing in our world and an outdated model of development continues to produce human, societal and environmental decline,\u201d the pope said in his traditional \u201cUrbi et Orbi\u201d (\u201dto the city and to the world\u201d) Christmas message and blessing from the central balcony overlooking St. Peter\u2019s Square.<\/p>\n
As Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, the pope depicted suffering reflected \u201cin the faces of little children,\u201d citing war and other tensions in the Middle East and Africa.<\/p>\n
He asked for peace for Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and prayed \u201cthat the will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached, one that would allow the peaceful coexistence of two states within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Francis also prayed for an end to confrontation on the Korean Peninsula and that \u201cmutual trust may increase.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Christmas message has become an occasion for popes to survey suffering in the world and press for solutions. Francis urged that \u201cour hearts not be closed\u201d as the inns of Bethlehem were to Mary and Joseph before Jesus\u2019 birth.<\/p>\n
The pontiff lamented that Syria remains \u201cmarked by war,\u201d that Iraq has been \u201cwounded and torn\u201d by fighting over the last 15 years and that ongoing conflict in Yemen \u201chas been largely forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recalling his recent trip to Bangladesh and Myanmar, the pope urged the international community to work \u201cto ensure that the dignity of the minority groups present in the region is adequately protected.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lamenting \u201cthe winds of war\u201d blowing around the world, Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Monday called for a two-state solution to find peace in the Middle East and prayed that confrontation can be overcome on the Korean Peninsula. The pope took particular aim at areas of global tension where President Donald Trump […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15759,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15757\/revisions\/15759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}