Christmas revellers around the world have donned red and white Santa hats, offered meals to the homeless and lit candles today, as Pope Francis launched observation of the global holiday with a sombre mass in the Vatican, AFP reports.

At Saint Peter’s Basilica, Francis used his Christmas Eve mass to urge Christians to think “of the wars, of the machine-gunned children, of the bombs on schools or hospitals” as this year’s Christmas once again takes place under the shadow of Israel’s invasion of Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Francis is due to deliver his traditional Christmas Day blessing, Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) later today, while in the biblical birthplace of Jesus, the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, observations of the holiday have been muted.

For the second year in a row, Bethlehem has done away with its giant Christmas tree and the elaborate decorations that normally draw throngs of tourists, settling for just a few festive lights.

“This year we limited our joy,” Bethlehem mayor Anton Salman told AFP.

At Manger Square, in the heart of the Palestinian city, a group of scouts held a parade that broke the silence. “Our children want to play and laugh,” read a sign carried by one of them, as his friends whistled and cheered.

Other banners said: “We want life, not death”, and “Stop the Gaza genocide now!” Jerusalem resident Hisham Makhoul said spending Christmas in the holy city offered an “escape” from the conflict.