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Christmas is “a truly special moment” and “an encounter” with God, Pope Francis assured children from Italian Catholic Action who had come to the Vatican for traditional Christmas greetings on December 20, 2024. Despite having a “very bad cold” resulting in a breathless voice, the Pope still interacted with his young guests, urging them not to be content with doing things “out of habit,” but to retain “wonder.”
During the audience, the Pontiff encouraged the young people, who had filled their time of waiting for him with songs, to know how to marvel. “Have you ever seen boring people? There are some. […] They don’t know how to marvel anymore… [For them] everything is equal, monotonous,” he said, in an interaction where he left his prepared text a number of times.
The head of the Catholic Church then invited his listeners to seize the opportunity of Christmas to rediscover our sense of wonder.
“The streets are lit up, gifts are exchanged, the liturgy is enriched with magnificent songs and sounds… Everything is beautiful,” he said.
And he advised the children to take the time to contemplate the crib, the “faces of wonder” and the “great feast.”
Christmas, he insisted, is not just “a great meal and nothing else.” It’s “an encounter – so beautiful! – that each year brings newness to our souls and hearts.”
Pope Francis also quoted Blessed Carlo Acutis – a young Italian whom he will canonize on April 27, 2025 – to encourage children to be “originals,” not “photocopies.”
He lamented:
“How many people do not have the capacity to be original. […] Today, we do it because the newspaper says we have to, or out of habit.”
Finally, Francis urged the children, who had brought him the fruits of a collection for those most in need, to be close to the “many children […] who suffer because of hunger, war and disease.”
Improvising again despite his breathlessness, he spoke in particular of Ukrainian children who “have forgotten to smile.”
At the following audience the 88-year-old Pontiff, who is often prone to respiratory ailments in winter, confessed to suffering from a bad cold. He did, however, keep his five appointments scheduled for the morning.