Catholic "Jewelry" starts...Two Years of Sad Christmas "May the war end..."

Thousands of pilgrims and tourists flock to the opening ceremony of the 'Jubilee'
Bethlehem, the birth of baby Jesus, a Christmas without a tree for the second year
Let's go. A Christmas that's gloomy about the war...There's a lot of visits to the Holy Land.

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On Christmas Eve, a ceremony and mass were held at the Vatican to mark the opening of the Catholic holy year of "Jubilee" with thousands of believers.

Gunfire and fear still continued in Gaza and Ukraine, which are at war, even on Christmas Day, delivering a message of hope.

Reporter Park Young-jin reports.

[Reporter]
Pope in a wheelchair in front of St. Peter's Basilica gate,
When you knock on the
castle gate, the door opens slowly, and the bell rings.

The curtain has risen on 'Jewelry', which is back after 25 years.

It is a Catholic holy period of special forgiveness and grace to believers until January 6, 2026.The pope, who named

the Pilgrims of Hope' as his motto of 'Journey', said let us inspire hope to escape the trials of poverty and war.

[Pope Francis] Don't delay, don't slow down, you have to be driven by good news. It is our mission to inspire hope in various situations in our lives.]

Bethlehem, the birth of baby Jesus,
It would have been a festive atmosphere crowded with pilgrims in the past
years, but for the second year, Christmas was celebrated without trees or cheers.

The war stopped everything.

The cardinal, who met with the faithful under the escort of the soldiers, stressed that this year should be the last sad Christmas, saying he should never give up.

[Cardinal Pierbatista Pizzabala/Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem] I want to say, don't lose hope. Then it is also possible to break down the most difficult walls: hatred, division, and contempt.]

In Gaza and Ukraine, where everything was destroyed and literally catastrophic, we prayed for an end to the war,

Carefully celebrated the peace that was restored in Syria, where the civil war that lasted for more than 13 years ended.

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which reopened this month after a long restoration in 2019 after a fire, drew a large number of worshippers to its first Christmas Mass in five years.

I'm Park Youngjin of YTN.