Pope’s Christmas Wish-Hope For A Better World-And Hope For Equality For Women Clergy?

Pope Francis,

 We in The Association of Women Priests thank you for your prayers and wishes for the world this holy Christmas-tide. We join you in these wonderful prayers.We also pray that you will look with open eyes at the way Jesus included women as equals to men in his ministry ,calling Mary of Magdala as an Apostle-and at the discipleship of his mother Mary. We hope this will open your heart to recognize your women priests who join you in your priority for the poor and outcast of this world.  We especially join you in your prayer for love and reconciliation for all people. ARCWP

 

 Pope’s Christmas Wish-Hope For a Better World

The Associated Press - By FRANCES D’EMILIO – Associated Press

 

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  In this picture provided by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis delivers his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the City and to the World) message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2013. Pope Francis on Christmas day is wishing for a better world, with peace for the land of Jesus’ birth, for Syria and Africa as well as for the dignity of migrants and refugees fleeing misery and conflict. Francis spoke from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica Wednesday to tens of thousands of tourists, pilgrims and Romans in the square below. He said he was joining in the song of Christmas angels with all those hoping “for a better world,” and with those who “care for others, humbly.” (AP Photo/L’Osservatore Romano, ho)

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  Pope Francis carries a statue of baby Jesus as he celebrates the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

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• Pope Francis walks with the pastoral staff at the end of the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
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  Clergymen walk and pray during Christmas mass at the Church of Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2013. Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, lead the midnight mass attended by many including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (AP Photo/Musa Al-Shaer, Pool)

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  Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, leads the midnight Christmas mass at the Church of Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Musa Al-Shaer, Pool)

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  Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, bottom center, leads the midnight Christmas mass at the Church of Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Musa Al-Shaer, Pool)

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  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, center, attends Christmas mass lead by Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal at the Church of Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Musa Al-Shaer, Pool)

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  Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, center, leads midnight Christmas mass at the Church of Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Musa Al-Shaer, Pool)

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• Francis also spoke of the lives of everyday people, especially those struggling for a better life.

  Recalling the hundreds of migrants who have drowned this year while trying to reach European shores, including many close to the Italian island of Lampedusa, Francis prayed that refugees receive hope, consolation and assistance.

  He added that “our thoughts turn to those children who are the most vulnerable victims of wars, but we think, too, of the elderly, of battered women” and others.

  The 77-year-old pope kept to the simple style he has set for his papacy. Wearing a plain white cassock, Francis presented a sharp contrast in appearance to the pope who stood on the same balcony on Christmas exactly a year ago. Then Benedict XVI, who was soon to stun the world by retiring, read his Christmas speech while dressed in a crimson, ermine-trimmed cape. Benedict lives on the Vatican grounds, and Francis paid a holiday call on him earlier this week.

  In another break with tradition, the Argentine-born Francis stuck to Italian for his Christmas greetings, forsaking a custom of wishing happy holidays in dozens of languages to the crowd below the balcony.

  In the Mideast, pilgrims celebrated Christmas in the ancient Bethlehem church where tradition holds Jesus was born, as candles illuminated the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filled its overflowing halls.

  This year’s turnout was the largest in years in Bethlehem, and the celebrations have been marked by careful optimism amid ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Leaders expressed hope the coming year would finally bring the Palestinians an independent state of their own.

  The top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, led a prayer for some 1,000 worshippers. “The whole world now is looking at Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus,” Twal said in his annual address, adding that the message of Jesus was one of “love and reconciliation.”