Christmas Wednesday was observed by Christians worldwide, although the atmosphere was soured by wars, a huge Russian attack on Ukraine on Christmas morning, and an aircraft crash in Kazakhstan.
Pope Francis was also anticipated to plead for peace in the Middle East during his customary “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the globe) statement at noon in Rome, as the war in Gaza likewise showed no signs of abating.
After another year of bloody warfare, Francis urged Christians to consider “the wars, of the machine-gunned children, of the bombs on schools or hospitals” during his Christmas Eve mass at the Vatican.
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”.
Originally celebrating Christmas on January 7, like many other Orthodox nations, Ukraine has been doing so on December 25 since 2017.
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