WORLD 24/12/23 Christmas in a time of war

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Christmas in a time of war

Christmas is the brightest sign of a salvation given to those who were incapable of embracing it: a salvation to lose

Adoration of the shepherds by Matthias Stomer (Photo: Wikipedia)

By La Civiltà Cattolica

Published: December 23, 2024 12:00 PM GMT

Updated: December 23, 2024 12:02 PM GMT

This is the third consecutive Christmas that we are living in a time of war. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and the support given by Russia to the separatist forces in the Donbass, entered a crucial phase on February 24, 2022, involving many European countries, the United States and others in support of Ukraine.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas suddenly carried out a brutal massacre in Israeli territory, killing about 1,200 civilians and military personnel and abducting more than 240 hostages to the Gaza Strip. Israel’s response, despite invoking self-defense, has over time become disproportionate and disturbingly violent. It has lasted for more than a year and there is no end in sight. In recent months the hostility between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah party has been rekindled.

Iran and Yemen’s Houthis have also become involved, further widening the confrontation. What Pope Francis described a few years ago as “a world war in pieces,” is proving all too true. Only now the different “pieces” are tragically coming together.

Unchecked fury is hitting everyone, especially civilians, the elderly, women and children. The ruins of houses bury their inhabitants, entire neighborhoods are razed to the ground, hospitals are targeted as possible terrorist hideouts, delirious people wander around not knowing where to go, everywhere the bodies of dead children are to be found.

There is a shortage of basic necessities, such as water and medicine. Care for the wounded is fraught, safe havens are rare as are chances to reorganize the food supply chain.

Everywhere we see rubble, blood, despair, death: realities which recall a distant past that we thought we had left behind forever.

Read the complete article here.

This article is brought to you by UCA News in association with "La Civiltà Cattolica."