Pope Francis leads a Christmas Eve mass in St Peter's Basilica to mark
the nativity of Jesus Christ on December 24, 2019, at the Vatican. PHOTO
| ALBERTO PIZZOLI | AFP
Vatican City
Pope
Francis ushered in Christmas celebrations for the world's 1.3 billion
Catholics on Tuesday, saying the celebration of Jesus's birth reminded
humanity how "God continues to love us all, even the worst of us".
The
pontiff told crowds gathered at the Vatican for his Christmas Eve Mass:
"You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of
things, but the Lord continues to love you."
Thousands
of Palestinians and foreigners converged in the biblical town of
Bethlehem, revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus, in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank.
MIDNIGHT MASS
A
few hundred worshippers gathered in the church on the site of Jesus's
birth for midnight mass, attended by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Hundreds more gathered outside, watching on screens in the crisp air.
At midnight bells rang out throughout the town, before
Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the most senior Roman Catholic
official in the Middle East, led hymns and said prayers.
"At Christmas all the world looks to us, to Bethlehem," he said.
"Special greetings to our brothers and sisters in Gaza, with whom I celebrated Christmas two days ago," he added.
REASON FOR HOPE
Pizzaballa,
who had to cross Israel's separation barrier to get from Jerusalem to
Bethlehem, said after his arrival that it was a difficult time but there
was reason for hope.
"We see in this period the weakness of politics, enormous economic problems, unemployment, problems in families," he said.
"On
the other side, when I visit families, parishes, communities, I see a
lot of commitment... for the future. Christmas is for us to celebrate
the hope."
Earlier in the evening, a few thousand
people watched in the winter sun as Palestinian scouts paraded in front
of a giant Christmas tree.
"The church is beautiful and
it puts what we know in the Bible (in) place," said Laneda, an American
tourist visiting the site. "Everything is just very meaningful."
FIRST CHURCH
The
first church was built on the site of Jesus's birth in the fourth
century, though it was replaced after a fire in the sixth century.
This year celebrations were bolstered by the return of a wooden fragment believed to be from the manger of Jesus.
Sent
as a gift to Pope Theodore I in 640, the piece had been in Europe for
more than 1,300 years before being returned last month, Francesco
Patton, chief custodian for the Holy Land, said.
"We
venerate the relic because (it) reminds us of the mystery of
incarnation, to the fact that the son of God was born of Mary in
Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago," Patton told AFP at the time.
In
the square by the church, Palestinian tourism minister Rula Maayah told
AFP it had been a good year, with 3.5 million tourists visiting the
city.
But fewer Christians from the Gaza Strip were in
attendance than in previous years, as Israel had granted permits to just
around 300 of the some 900 people who applied, said Wadie Abunassar, an
adviser to Church leaders in the Holy Lan.
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
The
Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza are separated by
Israeli land and crossing between them requires hard-to-get permits.
In
her traditional Christmas Day message, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was
to describe 2019 as "quite bumpy" after a year of crises in the royal
family.
In France, travellers were meanwhile facing
more woe in the bitter nearly-three week strike by train drivers
fighting government pension reform plans.
The walkout
has ruined Christmas travel plans for tens of thousands of French ticket
holders unable to reach loved ones in time for Christmas Day.
NOTRE-DAME CATHEDRAL
And
French Catholics endured a sad moment as Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris
was unable to hold Christmas Eve Mass for the first time since 1803 –
after a fire ravaged its structure in April.
Worshippers instead gathered at another church a few hundred metres away.
"It
isn't the same feeling but it's still a Christmas Mass," said
16-year-old Juliette, who had made the 700-kilometre trip from Aix with
her family. "There will be a thought for Notre-Dame tonight, that's for
sure."
A frantic scramble for gift promotions left a dozen people injured in an Australian shopping centre.
But
in Hong Kong chaos broke out in an upscale shopping centre after
pro-democracy protesters planned a series of Christmas Eve
demonstrations.
And in the central Philippines, where
Christmas is widely celebrated among the country's Catholics, thousands
of people were warned to leave their homes as a severe tropical storm
approached.
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