VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis roundly condemned militant violence and the “brutal persecution” of religious minorities this year in a Christmas message to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics and millions of others.

Speaking to a packed crowd outside Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Argentine pontiff also made a strong call to end violence wrought against children amid “indifference and tears”.

His second traditional ‘urbi et orbi’ message (to the city and to the world) comes at the close of a year plagued by war and violence, notably in Iraq, Syria, Nigeria and most recently against schoolchildren in Pakistan.

“Truly there are so many tears this Christmas,” he said in the message broadcast across the world.

Pontiff prays for families which lost their little ones in Peshawar carnage

Without naming the Islamic State (IS) militant group, he said Christians in Iraq and Syria “for too long now have suffered the effects of ongoing conflict” and “together with those belonging to other ethnic and religious groups, are suffering a brutal persecution”.

There were “too many displaced persons, exiles and refugees, adults and elderly, from this region and the whole world”. Killings and hostage-takings from the Middle East to Nigeria and elsewhere must stop, he said.

Visibly moved and departing from his text, the 78-year-old head of the Roman Catholic church noted “the children massacred by bombardments” and their “powerless silence that cries under the sword”.

Denouncing “indifference”, he explicitly condemned abortion, deploring the children “killed before seeing the light”.

“May Jesus save the vast numbers of children who are victims of violence, made objects of trade and trafficking, or forced to become soldiers.

“May he give comfort to the families of the children killed in Pakistan last week,” he said.

Turning to trouble-spots elsewhere across the globe, the softly-spoken Francis urged Ukrainians to “overcome tensions, conquer hatred and violence and set out on a new journey of fraternity and reconciliation”.

He called for peace in “the whole Middle East” and for continued efforts towards “dialogue” between Israelis and Palestinians.

Peace too was essential in Africa, particularly in Nigeria “where more blood is being shed”, as well as in Libya, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He noted the victims of Ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and than­ked those who were “courageously” assisting the sick.

In his Christmas message, the pontiff traditionally calls for remedies to the world’s woes.—AFP

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2014