By URN
Pope Leo XIV on Christmas night delivered a deeply reflective homily centered on hope, humility, human dignity, and God’s closeness to humanity, urging believers to look not to power or the heavens, but to the vulnerability of the Christ Child for salvation.
Pope Leo XIV presided over the midnight Mass for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord at St. Peter’s Basilica.
The mass was attended by over five thousand people and watched by millions around the world. Addressing the faithful, the pontiff reflected on humanity’s long search for meaning, noting that for centuries people had “scrubbed the sky, giving names and shapes to mute stars” while searching for truth beyond their reach. Yet, he said, such efforts often left humanity “confused by their own oracles.”
“This night,” the Pope declared, quoting Scripture, “the people who walked in the darkness saw a great light. On those who dwelt in the dark land, a light shone.”
He described the birth of Christ as “the star that surprises the world, a spark that has just been lit, a beacon of life.”
Marking the Nativity, he reminded Christians that salvation is not distant or abstract. “Today, in the city of David, a Savior has been born for you, who is Christ the Lord,” he said, adding that Christ comes “in time and space, there where we are.”
“He lives with us,” the Pope said, describing Jesus as the one “who gives his life for us, illuminating our night with salvation.” The Pope stressed that the birth of Jesus brings light capable of overcoming every form of darkness.
“There is no darkness that this star does not illuminate,” he said, because in Christ’s light “the entire humanity sees the dawn of a new and eternal existence.”
Calling Jesus “the Emmanuel,” the pontiff emphasized that God’s gift at Christmas is not symbolic but total. “In the Son made man, God does not give us something, but himself,” he said, explaining that Christ comes “to rescue us from all iniquity and to form for himself a pure people.”
The Pope urged the faithful to abandon the tendency to search for God in grandeur or power. “To find the Savior, one must not look up, but contemplate down,” he said, pointing to the manger as the clearest sign of God’s presence.
“The omnipotence of God lies in the impotence of a newborn,” he said, adding that “the eloquence of the eternal Word resounds in the first cry of a child.”
He described the vulnerability of the infant Jesus as a revelation of God’s closeness to humanity, saying, “It is divine the need for care and warmth that the Son of the Father shares in history with all his brothers.”
Linking the Nativity to contemporary social realities, the Pope warned against societies that exclude the weak and vulnerable.
“The divine light that radiates from this child helps us to see man in every newborn life,” he said. Recalling the words of Pope Benedict XVI, he cautioned that “on earth there is no space for God if there is no space for man.” “Not welcoming one means not welcoming the other,” the Pope said, stressing that “where there is a place for man, there is a place for God.”
He added that, in this light, “a stable can become more sacred than a temple.” The pontiff also offered a sharp moral critique of economic and social systems that strip people of their dignity.
“While a distorted economy sometimes leads men to be treated as goods,” he said, “God makes himself similar to us, revealing the infinite dignity of every person.”
Contrasting human ambition with divine humility, he noted, “While man wants to become God to dominate his neighbor, God wants to become man to free us from every slavery.”
“While a distorted economy leads us to treat human beings as mere merchandise, God becomes like us, revealing the infinite dignity of every person,” he said. “While humanity seeks to become ‘god’ in order to dominate others, God chooses to become man in order to free us from every form of slavery.”
The Christmas hymn, “Noel,” was sung during the procession, and the Mass began with the Christmas proclamation, or “kalenda,” of Jesus’ birth. The pope lifted a cloth to reveal a statue of baby Jesus, which he then kissed and blessed with incense.
The Pope described Christmas not as an answer to every problem, but as an invitation into a story of love. “Not a resolute idea for every problem, but a story of love that involves us,” he said.
He said God responds to human suffering with gentleness: “Before the pain of the poor, he sends a child to be strength to rise up.” And “before violence and oppression, he lights a gentle light that illuminates with salvation all the children of this world.”
Quoting St Augustine, the Pope recalled that “only divine humility could lift you up,” underscoring humility as the path to renewal.
Referring to Pope Francis’ message last year, the pontiff said the Nativity renews both a gift and a responsibility.
“The Nativity of Jesus revives in us the gift and the commitment to bring hope where it has been lost,” he said, noting that “with him joy flourishes, with him life changes, with him hope does not disappoint.”
With the Jubilee now underway, he said Christmas is “a time of gratitude and of mission,” urging believers to “announce day by day his salvation” and to “narrate his glory” among all peoples.
He concluded by calling Christmas “a celebration of faith, of charity and of hope,” saying it is faith because “God becomes man,” charity because Christ is given “in brotherly dedication,” and hope because “the Child Jesus lights it in us, making us messengers of peace.”
“With these virtues in our hearts,” the Pope said, “without fear of the night, we can go against the dawn of the new day.” If people refuse to make room for others — like the poor, children and the stranger — then they also refuse to make room for God, Pope Leo XIV said as he celebrated the birth of Jesus.
“Where there is room for the human person, there is room for God,” the pope said in his homily Dec. 24 as he celebrated the nighttime liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica.
