The archbishop of Canterbury and the pope have used their Christmas addresses to show solidarity with Bethlehem and those caught up in the Israel-Gaza war.
Referring to Jesus Christ’s birthplace, which is now in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Justin Welby said “the skies of Bethlehem are full of fear rather than angels and glory”.
He also drew comparisons to the turbulent conditions of Jesus’s birth and the current plight of children in the troubled region.
“Today a crying child is in a manger somewhere in the world, nobody willing or able to help his parents who desperately need shelter,” he said at the service at Canterbury Cathedral. “Or perhaps in an incubator, in a hospital low on electricity, like the Anglican al-Ahli [hospital] in Gaza, surrounded by suffering and death.
“Or maybe the newborn lies in a house that still bears the marks of the horrors of October 7, with family members killed and a mother who counted her life as lost.”
Amid a rise in antisemitic attacks in the UK, he talked of pupils “having to hide their Jewishness on their way to school in this country”.
Welby said “around the world we are beset with violence” and spoke of other victims of violence in Ukraine and Sudan, appealing to “prime ministers and presidents, to tyrants and despots, to warriors and warlords around the world, to leaders in every place at every level, to families, to mayors, to MPs to every individual” and urging: “Our appeal is simply this: change. Be transformed. It is within your gift.”
The cross he wore to deliver the sermon was a melted-down automatic rifle which came from a church in Philadelphia, whose outreach work includes taking in guns from the street and melting them down to make household objects and crosses. “Through their service they transform broken lives into restored dignity.”
The archbishop also paid tribute to King Charles, whose coronation he led in 2023, for following the example of Jesus in providing leadership through service.
It has been reported that Welby will be knighted by the king for his “personal service” to the crown, being admitted to the Royal Victorian Order in the new year honours list.
In his Christmas Eve homily, the pope also spoke of the Israel-Gaza war, saying Jesus’s message of peace was being drowned out by conflict in the land where he was born.
“Tonight our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world,” Pope Francis said during the service at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
The pope has made appeals for a ceasefire in the conflict and has called for the release of all hostages held by Palestinian militant groups.
From Armenia and Azerbaijan to Syria and Yemen, Ukraine to South Sudan and Congo and the Korean peninsula, the pope appealed for humanitarian initiatives, dialogue and security to prevail over violence and death.
He called for governments and people of goodwill in the Americas in particular to address the “troubling phenomenon” of migration and its “unscrupulous traffickers” who take advantage of innocents just looking for a better life.
Francis, who has denounced the weapons industry as “merchants of death”, spoke of how it is driving conflicts around the globe with scarcely anyone paying attention.
“It should be talked about and written about, so as to bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet strings of war,” he said. “And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?”
Vatican officials said about 70,000 people filled St Peter’s Square for the pope’s speech and blessing.
