Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor and strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself.
Leo, who has made care for immigrants and the poor key themes of his early papacy, said Jesus’ birth showed God’s presence in every person as the pontiff led the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics into Christmas at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“On earth, there is no room for God if there is no room for the human person. To refuse one is to refuse the other,” said the pope during the solemn service, attended by about 6 000 inside the basilica.
Leo, the first United States (US) born pope, is celebrating his first Christmas after being elected in May by the world’s cardinals to succeed the late Pope Francis.
Leo, who has criticised US President Donald Trump’s divisive immigrant crackdown, quoted a line from the late Pope Benedict XVI lamenting that the world does not care for children, the poor or foreigners.
–Reuters–
