Rome
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Pope Leo XIV celebrated the first Christmas since his election by denouncing the suffering of people of Gaza – taking shelter in tents from the “rain, wind and cold” – and by calling for the guns to fall silent in Ukraine.
On Christmas Day, the first US-born pope, offered the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing (“To the City and to the World”) from the balcony of St Peter’s, surveying a world speckled with conflicts from Yemen to Myanmar, and calling for compassion towards those who have fled their homelands to seek a future in Europe and America.
Leo, who was elected on May 8, said Thursday that Jesus Christ is “our peace” because he “shows us…