Pope Leo XIV lamented that Russia rejected his proposal for 24 hours of peace at Christmas

Pope Leo XIV expressed “much sadness” this Tuesday for Russia’s rejection of a Christmas truce request and renewed his call to stop fighting in all armed conflicts around the world for at least 24 hours on Christmas Day, in a symbolic gesture of détente and humanity. The pontiff made the request when speaking to journalists on his way out of his residence in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, where he rests on Tuesdays. There he insisted that the Christian holiday of the birth of Jesus should be respected as a minimum time of peace, even in scenarios of open war. “One of the things that causes me a lot of sadness is that Russia has apparently rejected the request for a Christmas truce,” the Pope said, referring to Moscow’s lack of a positive response to his public call for a temporary ceasefire. Leo XIV emphasized that his exhortation was not directed solely at a specific conflict, but at all parties involved in wars and armed confrontations in different regions of the planet. “I make this request to all people of good will to respect at least the feast of the Savior’s birth: a day of peace“, he said. The Pope added that he maintains the hope that the message can be heard despite the initial refusals. “Hopefully they will listen to us so that there is 24 hours of peace, a day of peace, throughout the world,” he said, on the eve of the main liturgical celebrations of the Catholic calendar.

The call comes in a context marked by the prolongation of the war in Ukraine, which began with the Russian invasion in February 2022, and by the absence of concrete signs of a de-escalation during the Christmas holidays. The Kremlin has not announced, so far, any ceasefire initiative linked to the festivities. The Vatican has historically resorted to this type of symbolic gesture in moments of high international tension. In previous years, the Holy See promoted humanitarian truces or pauses in the fighting during religious celebrations, with uneven results and, in many cases, without a response from the armed actors. In his statements this Tuesday, Leon XIV also referred to the situation in Gaza, one of the main hotspots of violence today. He recalled that a few days ago the parish of the Most Holy Trinity, the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, received a visit from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa. The Pope explained that this Tuesday he was able to speak with the parish priest of that church, the Argentinian priest Gabriel Romanelli, who conveyed the difficulties in organizing Christmas celebrations amid an extremely precarious humanitarian situation. “They are trying to organize Christmas even though the situation is very precarious. Hopefully the peace agreement will continue,” said the pontiff, referring to the fragile attempts to reduce violence and allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave. At the end of a three-day visit to the Gaza Strip, Cardinal Pizzaballa told Vatican media that the population of Gaza faces conditions of extreme poverty. “Houses, schools and hospitals need to be rebuilt. The population lives surrounded by sewers and garbage, but at the same time longs to rebuild their lives,” he said. Leo XIV will celebrate his first Christmas Eve mass on Wednesday night since being elected pope and will pronounce the traditional “urbi et orbi” blessing at noon on Thursday, a message that usually includes direct references to the main international conflicts and in which he is expected to reiterate the need for concrete gestures of peace in a global scenario marked by the persistence of wars.