Pope condemns greed and hunger for power in Christmas eve homily

Pope Francis condemned greed and hunger for power in his yearly Christmas Eve homily.

"Men and women in our world, in their hunger for wealth and power, consume even their neighbours, their brothers and sisters," he said.

Francis, celebrating the 10th Christmas of his pontificate, presided at a solemn Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. It was the first with a capacity crowd of about 7,000 following several years of restricted attendance because of COVID-19.

About 4,000 other people participated outside in St. Peter's Square on a relatively warm night.

As has been the case for the past several months, a knee ailment prevented Francis from standing for long periods, delegating a cardinal to be the main celebrant at the altar of the largest church in Christendom.

He spoke on the theme of greed and consumption, calling on followers to look beyond consumerism which has packaged Christmas, saying people should rediscover its meaning and remember those suffering in war and poverty.

"How many wars have we seen! And in how many places, even today, are human dignity and freedom treated with contempt!" he said.

"As always, the principal victims of this human greed are the weak and the vulnerable," he said, denouncing "a world ravenous for money, power and pleasure..."

"I think above all of the children devoured by war, poverty and injustice," also mentioning "unborn, poor and forgotten children".

Drawing a parallel between the infant Jesus born in a manger and the poverty of today, the pope said: "In the manger of rejection and discomfort, God makes himself present. He comes there because there we see the problem of our humanity: the indifference produced by the greedy rush to possess and consume."

On Sunday, he is due to deliver his twice-year "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing and message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to tens of thousands of people in the square below.