Vatican City, Dec 24, 2017 / 14:43 pm
Pope Francis said the birth of Jesus is an invitation for all Christians to imitate him in reaching out to embrace the vulnerable and all those who are suffering, during his celebration of Christmas Mass.
The joy that we are called to celebrate, share, and proclaim at Christmas is "the joy with which God, in his infinite mercy, has embraced us pagans, sinners and foreigners, and demands that we do the same," the Pope said the evening of Dec. 24 during his homily at St. Peter's Basilica.
The faith Christians proclaim at Christmas, as they adore the infant who came to offer salvation to sinners, is one that enables us to see God "in all those situations where we think he is absent," he said.
"He is present in the unwelcomed visitor, often unrecognizable, who walks through our cities and our neighborhoods, who travels on our buses and knocks on our doors," Francis said, explaining that this faith is also an invitation to develop "a new social imagination, and not to be afraid of experiencing new forms of relationship, in which none have to feel that there is no room for them on this earth."