Pope Francis in his New Year’s speech “Angelus” calls for debt relief and peace

by AC Wimmer

CNA News, January 1, 2025 / 07:30

Pope Francis celebrated the Angelus prayer on the first day of 2025, calling on Christian countries to set an example by canceling debts for the world’s poorest countries and renewing his fervent appeal for peace in global conflict zones.

Speaking from a window of the Apostolic Palace to what the Vatican said were about 30,000 faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, the pontiff linked the Church’s World Day of Peace to the coming jubilee year, stressing the debt. forgiveness as a concrete path to peace.

“The first to forgive debts is God, for which we always ask Him when we pray the ‘Our Father,'” Francis said. “And the anniversary calls to transfer this forgiveness to the social level, so that no person, no family, no nation will be oppressed by debt.”

The Pope urged “the leaders of countries with Christian traditions to set a good example by canceling or reducing, as much as possible, the debts of the poorest countries.”

A powerful call for peace in the midst of global conflicts

Reflecting on global conflicts, Francis expressed gratitude to those working on dialogue and negotiations in war zones. He specifically mentioned Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, Myanmar and Kivu, a region in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo that has suffered from prolonged violence and instability.

“Brothers, sisters, war destroys, it always destroys! War is always a defeat, always,” the Pope emphasized.

Francis reflected on the day’s Gospel reading from Luke 2:16-21, which tells about the arrival of the shepherds to the manger in Bethlehem. He drew attention both to what the shepherds saw – the Baby Jesus, whose name in Hebrew means “God saves” – and to what remained invisible: Mary’s heart, which “kept and pondered all these things.”

“God decided to be born for us,” Francis said. “The Lord came into the world to give us his life.” He connected this divine choice with what he called “the hope of redemption and salvation” that beats in the maternal heart of Mary for all creation.

Earlier on the same day the pontiff pleaded for peace and the defense of human life in St. Peter’s Basilica, calling for a “firm commitment to promote respect for the dignity of human life, from conception to natural death” in his New Year’s homily.

AC Wimmer (刘威猛) is the news editor for Europe and Asia at EWTN News. The multilingual Australian, who grew up in Bavaria and South Africa, has worked as editor-in-chief of several media outlets. A graduate of Philosophy and Chinese Studies from the University of Melbourne, he is an accomplished journalist, a former Honorary Research Fellow in Communications at his alma mater and served on the board of Caritas in Munich.