VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis offered a Christmas message of hope Wednesday against darkness that cloaks conflicts and relationships in large parts of the world from the Middle East to the Americas to Africa.
The pope told tens of thousands of tourists, pilgrims and Romans gathered in St. Peter's Square for the annual Christmas Day message that "the light of Christ is greater'' than the darkness "in human hearts" and ''in economic, geopolitical and ecological conflicts.''
The traditional "Urbi et Orbi'' ("to the city and to the world'') Christmas message has become an occasion for popes to address suffering in the world and press for solutions. Francis was flanked by Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the papal council for migrants, and Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the pop
