The World Celebrated Christmas: Pope Leo's First Christmas Service, and Trump Checked if Santa is Truly Good
On Thursday night, Christians around the world celebrated Christmas according to the Gregorian and Revised Julian calendars. This year, Pope Leo XIV, elected in May, held his first Christmas service in the Vatican.
Photo: Franco Origlia/Getty Images
Following the cessation of the war in the Gaza Strip, a Christmas service was held in Bethlehem, where Christians believe Jesus was born. For the first time in two years, ceremonies with a large number of people took place in the city, located in the Palestinian Authority, on the West Bank of the Jordan River, writes the BBC.
After the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip, mass events in Bethlehem were not held for security reasons.
The Christmas service in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican was led for the first time by Pope Leo.
Earlier, the head of the Roman Catholic Church called for "24 hours of peace worldwide" for Christmas, but his call was not heeded. This week, the pontiff said he was "very saddened" by Russia's refusal of a Christmas truce in the war in Ukraine (Moscow claimed it wanted genuine peace and had no intention of giving Kyiv time to rearm).
During the service, Leo spoke of Christmas as a holiday of "faith, charity, and hope" and criticized a "distorted economy" that "threatens to treat people as mere commodities."
On Christmas night in Ukraine, air raid sirens sounded as usual. The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that kamikaze drones were moving in the direction of Kyiv.
Prior to this, Christmas services were held in Ukrainian churches. Ukraine is celebrating Christmas on December 25 for the third year now.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fighting as part of the Armed Forces are celebrating Christmas at the front.
This photo shows a serviceman of the 44th Artillery Brigade decorating a Christmas tree in his dugout in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump celebrated Christmas at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. On Wednesday evening, he and his wife traditionally took calls from children asking about Santa Claus's location.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) usually tracks Santa's movements across the planet. Command personnel report this to the President, who, in turn, informs the children.
However, this year Trump stated that before Santa was allowed into the USA, authorities first checked his reliability.
"Santa is a very good person," said Trump to one of the callers. "We wanted to make sure he wasn't embedded. That we're not embedding a bad Santa in the country. So we've determined that Santa is good."
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