Pope greets Orthodox Christians for Christmas, recalls Holy Childhood mission

Pope Francis on Monday, greeted the world’s Orthodox Christians on the occasion of their Christmas which falls Jan. 7, Tuesday. “May the peace that God had given to humanity with the birth of Jesus, the Word incarnate, strengthen faith, hope and love in all and bring comfort to the Christian communities that are being tried,” the Pope said after praying the ‘Angelus’ with some 100 thousand people in Rome’s St. Peter’s Square, marking the Jan. 6 feast the Epiphany. The Pope also also recalled that the Pontifical Mission Society of the Holy Childhood marks its mission day on Epiphany. He noted that many children carry out works of solidarity among their peers in their parishes, thus widening the horizons of their brotherhood. Pope Francis thanked and blessed the children because he said, “with your prayers and commitment you collaborate in the mission of the Church.”
Before the “Angelus’, the Pope briefly reflected on Christ’s manifestation to the world on Epiphany, saying the feast is the celebration of a double movement of reciprocal attraction. It is God’s move towards mankind that culminated in Jesus. It is also Man’s movement towards God, manifested in religions, in the search for truth, peace justice and freedom. However, it is Jesus who is the meeting point of this reciprocal attraction, the Pope said, adding, the Church is totally in this movement of God towards the world. Pope Francis then reached out to Catholics who have fallen away from their faith, saying “I would like to tell all those who feel far from God and the Church _ and I say this respectfully to those who are afraid or indifferent: The Lord loves you and wants you to be part of his people and does so with great respect and love!'' “The Lord awaits and looks out for you without proselytizing,, even at this moment when you are far,” he added.