Pope Leo XIV used his first Christmas Day message to revive a tradition set aside by his predecessor, offering greetings in several languages from the loggia of St Peter’s Basilica. The return to multilingual addresses drew a warm response from the crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square.
Cheers rose when the first US pontiff spoke in English and Spanish.
Addressing around 26,000 people during the Urbi et Orbi, Leo focused on the theme of peace through dialogue.
He spoke of Gaza and of civilians exposed to war, weather and loss, and of young people sent to fight. Peace, he said, begins by listening.
