URBI ET ORBI: JUBILEE HIGHLIGHTS THE SACREDNESS OF CHRISTMAS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 25, 1999 (VIS) - In the traditional Christmas day message, 'Urbi et Orbi' (to the city and the world), John Paul II made a call from St. Peter's Square against "the senseless use of arms" and condemned war, racism, death camps and the denial of fundamental human rights. Furthermore, he requested leaders of nations to commit themselves to respecting the right to life and highlighted the fact that this year the Great Jubilee accentuates the sacred nature of Christmas.

From the balcony of the central 'loggia' in the recently restored facade of the basilica, John Paul II quoted the prophet Isaiah: "'To us a child is born, to us a son is given'," words which reveal, he said, "in all its fullness, the mystery of Christmas."

"Remembering the birth of Christ on this holy day, we live, together with this event, the 'mystery of man's divine adoption' through the work of Christ who comes into the world. For this reason, Christmas night and Christmas day are perceived as sacred by those who seek the truth."

Yet the sacred nature of Christmas this year is even more marked because "it is the beginning of the Great Jubilee." John Paul II highlighted this fact, mentioning the opening, prior to Midnight Mass, of the Holy Door in the Vatican Basilica: "A symbolic act, which inaugurates the Jubilee Year, a gesture which highlights with singular eloquence something already present in the mystery of Christmas: Jesus, born of Mary in the poverty of Bethlehem (is) the eternal Son given to us by the Father. ... (He is) the Door of our salvation, the Door of life, the Door of peace."
"Christ," explained the Pope, is "the Door of our salvation. (We must thank Him) for all the good of the years, centuries and millennia which have passed," although humanity has at times "invented false certainties, ... chased after deceptive ideologies" and "refused to respect and love" brothers and sisters from other races and creeds.

Christ is the Door of life "for the wonders with which (He) has enriched every generation." In His name, the Pope requested "that legislators and political leaders, men and women of good will (commit themselves) to welcoming human life as a precious gift."

Finally, said the Holy Father, Christ is the "Door of peace, as pilgrims in time we visit all the places of grief and of war, the resting places of the victims of brutal conflicts and cruel slaughter. You, Prince of Peace, invite us to ban the senseless use of arms, and the recourse to violence and hatred which have doomed individuals, peoples and continents."

"'To us a son is given'," the Pope concluded, "You, Father, have given us your Son. You give Him to us again today, at the dawn of the new millennium. ... You, O Christ are the same yesterday, today and forever."

Following his message, John Paul II gave Christmas greetings to the world in 58 languages.

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