Pope Francis on Christmas: God Continues to Love Us All, Even the Worst of Us

Guwahati, December 25, 2019:

Ushering the world's 1.3 billion Catholics at Christmas on Wednesday, Pope Francis greeted crowds gathered at the Vatican with a message of unconditional love, saying “God continues to love us all, even the worst of us.”

Pope Francis, “You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you,” the pontiff told the crowd at the Vatican for his Christmas Eve midnight mass.

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Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians and foreign tourists came together in the biblical town of Bethlehem, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, in the occupied West Bank.

Hundreds of worshippers gathered in the church at the site of Jesus's birth for midnight mass, attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas while hundreds of others gathered outside.

As midnight bells rang throughout the town, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, led hymns and said prayers, saying all the world looks to us, to Bethlehem. The Archbishop is the most senior Roman Catholic official in the Middle East.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the Church of England, is expected to strike an unusually personal tone in this year's Christmas Day speech.

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In the US, President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended a music-filled Christmas Eve service at a Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated church.

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