The mass was attended by high-ranking Church figures, diplomats and about 6,000 faithful.<\/p>\n
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Pope Leo XIV’s first Midnight Mass in St Peter’s Basilica. (AP: Gregorio Borgia)<\/p>\n
Leo stuck to a very religious homily without any direct reference to current affairs.<\/p>\n
The ceremony celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and is one of the most important days in the Catholic Church calendar.<\/p>\n
The service combines traditional music with symbolic gestures such as placing a statue of the baby Jesus in a cradle.<\/p>\n
The 70-year-old pope decided to hold the mass at a later time than under the more elderly Francis, who would hold Christmas mass at around 7:30pm local time.<\/p>\n
In another change, Leo will hold another mass on Christmas Day on Thursday, renewing a tradition started by the late pope John Paul II.<\/p>\n
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Pope Leo XIV will return to the basilica for Mass on Christmas Day followed by his traditional blessing from the loggia. (Reuters: Guglielmo Mangiapane)<\/p>\n
He will then give his “Urbi et Orbi” blessing at midday local time from the balcony of the basilica \u2014 during which popes usually speak about conflicts around the world and call for peace.<\/p>\n
Leo on Tuesday called for a global truce around the world on Christmas Day, expressing “great sadness” that “apparently Russia rejected a request” for one in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
“I am renewing my request to all people of good will to respect a day of peace \u2014 at least on the feast of the birth of our saviour,” Leo told reporters at his residence in Castel Gandolfo near Rome.<\/p>\n
Christmas 2025 also marks the end of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Holy Year, which has brought millions of pilgrims to Rome.<\/p>\n
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Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa arrives at the Church of the Nativity, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on Christmas Eve. (AP: Ariel Schalit)<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, thousands of people flocked to Bethlehem’s Manger Square after two years of subdued celebrations because of the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n