• Pope Francis is scheduled to address Catholics in the square.
• Francis, 86, wheeled himself into the church.
• The Argentine pontiff received harsh criticism in Ukraine for making remarks.

At the Vatican’s Christmas Eve Mass, Pope Francis denounced humankind’s “hunger for wealth and power,” ostensibly in reference to the situation in Ukraine and past wars.

He exclaimed, “How many wars have we seen!,” adding that “the weak and the defenseless” were the principal casualties.

The pontiff continued, “I think above all of the children eaten by war, hunger, and injustice.

He was speaking to worshippers in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Basilica.

Francis, 86, wheeled himself into the church and spent the majority of Saturday night’s Mass sitting near the altar.

Men and women in our world, he added, “devour even their neighbours, their mothers, and their sisters, in their greed for wealth and power, while animals eat in their stalls.

During the service, he made no direct mention of the Russian-Ukrainian War.

The Argentine pontiff received harsh criticism in Ukraine for making remarks that many Ukrainians perceived as cautious during the early phases of Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began on February 24.

The war was “somehow either triggered or not stopped,” he said in June.

However, the Pope later condemned what he called atrocities carried by by Russian forces.

On Sunday, Pope Francis is scheduled to address Catholics in the square below and all across the world from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica with his customary blessing and message, Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world).

In the UK, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is anticipated to declare that the birth of Jesus Christ offers “unconquerable hope” in the face of global war and strife as well as the rising cost of living.

The head of the global Anglican Communion is also anticipated to make an appeal to the leaders of South Sudan and Russia to put an end to violence and “bring hope to millions” in light of his recent trip to Ukraine and his upcoming trip to South Sudan with the Pope and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland.

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