[CHURCH]25/12/21 Pope calls for prayers for children to live in peace

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Leo also urged audience to imbibe Saint Joseph’s piety, charity, mercy, and abandonment to cultivate spirit of ‘Holy Christmas’

A child holds a Nativity Scene figurine of baby Jesus before the traditional blessing of figurines as part of the pope's Sunday Angelus prayer before Christmas in Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican on Dec. 21. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

By UCA News reporter

Published: December 22, 2025 12:03 PM GMT

Updated: December 22, 2025 12:05 PM GMT

Pope Leo XIV, while imparting his blessings to Baby Jesus statues, has urged school children and youth to pray for the Pope’s intentions, and for the children around the world to live in peace.

“Let us pray together that all the children of the world may live in peace,” said Leo in an address after the Sunday Angelus on Dec. 21, the Vatican News reported.

The Pope also blessed the Baby Jesus figurines brought by over 1,500 children and young people for placing in the nativity scenes set up at their homes, schools, and youth centers from across Rome, Spain, and Hong Kong.

The Roman children showed the Pope the figures of the baby Jesus - "bambinelli" as they are called in Italy.

Leo also urged the children and youth to pray for the Pope’s intentions. The Centro Oratori Romani (Roman Oratory Center) organized the event.

Earlier in his address during the Sunday Angelus, Leo reflected on the figure of Saint Joseph while recalling how God revealed Joseph's mission in a dream to which he responded with great faith and courage.

While terming Joseph a “fragile and fallible man, like us,” Leo recalled his “courageous and strong” faith.

Citing the evangelist Matthew’s description calling Joseph a "just man" (cf.  Mt  1:19), Leo pointed out that the description  “characterizes him as a pious Israelite, who observed the Law and attended synagogue.”

“Beyond this, however, Joseph of Nazareth also appears to us as an extremely sensitive and humane person,” Leo added.

Leo pointed out that Joseph chose to spare Mary from the path of scandal and public condemnation, even before the revelation from the angel, and chose a discreet and benevolent path of secret divorce.

 “Thus, he shows that he grasps the deepest meaning of his own religious observance: that of mercy,” Leo emphasized.

Joseph’s virtues of “piety, charity, mercy, and abandonment” are the key virtues that Christians can follow as he did toward a “Holy Christmas,” Leo said.

Leo pointed out to his listeners that the important attitudes of Saint Joseph’s virtues can help them to become for one another “a welcoming nativity scene, a hospitable home, a sign of God's presence.”

He urged the faithful not to lose the opportunity to practise them.