Vatican City - December 2022 - On Christmas Day, Pope Francis prayed together with the more than 70,000 faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square for the traditional Urbi et Orbi Christmas blessing. Looking out at 12 noon sharp, the Holy Father addressed Rome and the world, urging the faithful to let the Light brought by Jesus' birth "envelop us, like the shepherds of Bethlehem." He then turned his thoughts to Ukraine, but also to the violence in the Holy Land, crises in Lebanon and Yemen, bloodshed in Iran and Myanmar, tensions in Haiti, and the hunger emergency in the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan. Standing facing the Blessing Loggia, but ideally on his knees pleading for peace, the Pope thus entrusted the dramas and tragedies of our times to Christ who is born.