ローマ教皇「戦争や撃たれた子どもたち」に思いを イブのミサ

【ローマＡＦＰ＝時事】ローマ・カトリック教会のフランシスコ教皇は２４日、バチカンのサンピエトロ大聖堂でクリスマスイブのミサを執り行い、「戦争、機関銃で撃たれた子どもたち、学校や病院への爆撃」に思いをはせるよう信徒に呼び掛けた。今年のクリスマスも、イスラエルによるイスラム組織ハマス掃討作戦とロシアによるウクライナ侵攻が影を落としている。（写真はバチカンのサンピエトロ大聖堂でクリスマスイブのミサを執り行うローマ・カトリック教会のフランシスコ教皇）
　教皇は数日前、パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区でイスラエル軍によって子どもたちが爆撃されている事態について「残虐行為にほかならず、戦争ではない」と非難し、イスラエルからの反発を招いていた。
　イエス・キリストの生誕地とされるパレスチナ自治区ヨルダン川西岸のベツレヘムでは、２年連続で華美な祝祭は自粛された。
　カトリック教会のピエルバティスタ・ピザバララテン・エルサレム総大司教は集まった少数の信徒を前に、直前に訪れていたガザでの状況に触れ、「何もかもが破壊され、貧困と災いがもたらされていた」と語り、「だが命も目にした。彼らは諦めていない。だから、あなた方も決して諦めてはならない」と呼び掛けた。
　一方、約１１００人のキリスト教徒が住住むガザ地区では、数百人が教会を訪れた紛争の終結を祈った。
　ガザ市内にあるギリシャ正教会の聖ポルフィリウス教会に数週間前から避難している男性は、「今年のクリスマスは死と破壊の臭いがする」と話し、「喜びもクリスマスを祝う雰囲気もない。次の祝日まで誰が生き残っているのか、私たちには分からない」と続けた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/12/25-18:22）

Christians across the world celebrated Christmas Wednesday, with the mood darkened by wars and a massive Christmas morning attack on Ukraine by Russia and a plane crash in Kazakhstan.
With the war in Gaza also showing no signs of ending, Pope Francis was also expected to call for peace in the Middle East during his traditional Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) speech at midday in Rome.
Francis used his Christmas Eve mass at the Vatican to urge Christians to think of the wars, of the machine-gunned children, of the bombs on schools or hospitals after another year of raging conflicts.
But as he was speaking, Moscow launched scores of missiles and drones in an attempt to take out Ukraine's ravaged energy grid.
Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack, President Zelensky said. What could be more inhumane? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than 100 attack drones. The target is our energy system.
Ukraine has been celebrating Christmas on December 25 since 2017, having previously held the feast like many other Orthodox countries on January 7.
- 'We limited our joy' -
An Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet flying from the capital Baku to Grozny in Russia crashed on Wednesday in western Kazakhstan, officials said, with 25 survivors reported so far. The plane was carrying 67 people.
In the biblical birthplace of Jesus, the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, celebrations among its Palestinian population were muted.
Since the war in Gaza began, Bethlehem has done away with its giant Christmas tree and the elaborate decorations that normally draw throngs of tourists, settling for just a few festive lights.
This year we limited our joy, Bethlehem mayor Anton Salman told AFP.
Prayers, including at the Church of the Nativity's famed midnight mass, were strictly of a religious nature.
The Latin patriarch, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told a small crowd on Tuesday that he had just returned from Gaza, where he saw everything destroyed, poverty, disaster.
But I also saw life -- they don't give up. So you should not give up either. Never.
At Manger Square, in the heart of the Palestinian city, a group of scouts held a parade that broke the silence.
Our children want to play and laugh, read a sign carried by one of them. Other banners said We want life, not death, and Stop the Gaza genocide now!
Jerusalem resident Hisham Makhoul said spending Christmas in the holy city offered an escape from the Israel-Hamas war, which has raged for more than 14 months in the Gaza Strip.
What we're going through is very difficult and we can't completely forget about it, said Makhoul of the plight of Palestinians in the besieged territory.
- Gaza and Syria -
About 1,100 Christians live in Gaza, with hundreds gathering at a church there to pray for an end to the war.
This Christmas carries the stench of death and destruction, said George al-Sayegh, who for weeks has sought refuge in the 12th-century Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City.
In a message to Christians all over the world, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked them for supporting Israel's fight against the forces of evil.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, hundreds of people took to the streets in Christian areas of Damascus to protest the burning of a Christmas tree in a Syrian town, just over two weeks after Islamist-led rebels ousted president Bashar al-Assad.
If we're not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don't belong here anymore, said a demonstrator who gave his name as George.
- Santa tracker -
In Germany, Christmas was also a grim affair for many families after a deadly attack at a market, prompting President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to issue a message of healing.
Hatred and violence must not have the final word, he said.
In Buenos Aires, a Christmas solidarity dinner for the homeless fed around three thousand people at a time when more than half of Argentina's population is affected by poverty.
In the United States, where the annual tradition of tracking Santa Claus swung into action, a US Air Force general said there was no need to worry that recent mystery drone sightings might affect deliveries.
And in Paris, worshippers gathered at the Notre Dame cathedral for the first Christmas mass since its reopening following a devastating fire in 2019.
burs/lb/tym/fg/ach