Pope Francis Rejects Military Spending in His Christmas Message

In the Christmas message delivered from St. Peter's Basilica on Monday, Pope Francis made a passionate plea against weapons manufacturers.

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"To say no to war, it is necessary to say no to weapons. Because if man, whose heart is unstable and wounded, finds instruments of death in his hands, sooner or later he will use them. And how can we talk about peace when the production, sale, and trade of weapons are on the rise?" asked Pope Francis.

"The massacres caused by weapons happen in a deafening silence and away from everyone's sight... People, who want bread, not weapons, who struggle to move forward and seek peace, are unaware of how much public funds are allocated to armaments. And yet, they should know!"

"Let's talk about this, let's write about this, so that the interests and benefits that drive the threads of wars are known."

In his Christmas message, Pope Francis recalled the situation in Gaza and called for peace to "reach Israel and Palestine, where war shakes the lives of those populations.

"I plead for military operations, with their dramatic consequences for innocent civilian victims, to cease. I plead for the desperate humanitarian situation to be remedied by allowing the arrival of aid."

He also urged "not to continue feeding violence and hatred, but to find a solution to the Palestinian issue through sincere and persevering dialogue between the parties, supported by a strong political will and the international community's backing."

In his Christmas message, the Pope also implored for peace in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, and called for social and political stability for the Lebanese people. He invoked permanent peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the return of displaced people to their homes.

He didn't forget "the tensions and conflicts disturbing the regions of the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, Sudan, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan.

Pope Francis also requested that we be the voice "of those without a voice: the innocent dead due to lack of water and bread; the voice of those who cannot find or have lost their jobs; the voice of those forced to flee their homeland in search of a better future, risking their lives in exhausting journeys and at the mercy of unscrupulous traffickers."