The pontiff delivered a Christmas message to worshippers at St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City as he celebrated a solemn mass. Thousands of pilgrims attended the festive service while hundreds of others watched on large screens outside. As is customary on Christmas Eve, the 83-year-old pope weaved his sermon around the spiritual and personal significance of the night that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
He said in his sermon: “Christmas reminds us that God continues to love us all, even the worst of us.
This year marks the seventh Christmas Pope Francis has celebrated since being appointed as head of the church.
“You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you,” he said.
“How often do we think that God is good if we are good and punishes us if we are bad. Yet that is not how he is.
Without mentioning them specifically, Francis also referred to recent Church troubles.
The church has been gripped by sexual abuse scandals around the world and financial irregularities closer to home at the Vatican.
He said: “Let us contemplate the Child and let ourselves be caught up in his tender love.
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His address comes a week after he announced changes to the way the church deals with abuse scandals.
The pope abolished the rule of “pontifical secrecy” that previously covered them.
Advocates for the victims of a scandal that has rocked the church for nearly two decades welcomed the move.
Francis’ late-night mass kicks off a busy few days for the pope, including a Christmas Day speech, noontime prayers, a New Year’s Eve vigil and a January 1 mass.
On Wednesday, Francis will deliver his twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message and blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to thousands of people in the square below.
Unlike that on Christmas Eve, the Christmas day message is typically more about the significance of the Christmas message amidst the wars and conflicts of contemporary society.