CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

Pope Francis Condemns “Icy Winds of War” in Christmas Speech

Francis used his annual speech to denounce the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Pope Francis spoke out against “icy winds of war” buffeting humanity, repeating his call for an end to the conflict in Ukraine during the annual “Urbi et Orbi” Christmas speech. Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, the pope lamented the “senseless war” caused by President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. “Let our eyes be filled with the faces of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who are living this Christmas in the dark and cold, far from their homes due to the devastation, the destruction caused by 10 months of war,” Francis said. Though the pope has for months been reluctant to name Russia as the aggressor in the conflict in keeping with Vatican policy, his condemnation of the war has been ramping up: In November, he compared the conflict to the Holodomor, a 1930s Ukrainian famine caused by Joseph Stalin.