Ukrainian artist Yama Tarhonia has presented Pope Francis with a blue and yellow dove of peace made from a piece of stained glass from the Church of St Nicholas in Kyiv, which wasdamaged in a Russian attack on 20 December 2024.

Christmas revellers around the world donned red and white Santa hats, offered meals to the homeless and lit candles on Wednesday, as Pope Francis launched observation of the global holiday with a sombre mass in the Vatican.

Putting aggressors and victims on the same level is "ethically and morally wrong," said commenter Anton Gerashchenko in response to the pope's words.

The latest is a special gift as Christmas draws near: a vehicle converted into a small mobile hospital to care for the inhabitants of this country devastated by war. The person in charge of delivering the vehicle where the injured can be operated on will be the pope’s almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajweski.

Ukraine said Russia had attacked it with 60 drones overnight, of which 36 were downed, 23 were jammed by electronic warfare and one was still in the air.

United States President Joe Biden will visit Italy in January, where he will meet with Pope Francis and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to discuss global peace efforts and various international challenges.

The White House announced that President Joe Biden will head to Italy early next month for a public meeting with Pope Francis in Vatican City. During the trip he will also hold meetings with Italy's Prime Minister and President.

I think of Gaza with great sorrow; so much cruelty, children hit by machine guns, schools and hospitals bombed,’ pontiff says - Anadolu Ajansı

Christmas festivities in Bethlehem have been toned down for a second year running due to the ongoing war in Gaza. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the highest representative of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land,

The papal point man for charity, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, opened a soup kitchen in Fastiv, in Ukraine's Kyiv region, Dec. 23 and was heading east to Kharkiv to spend Christmas "in the city where Russian bombs fell first and the war started" on Feb.

On the Sunday before Christmas, Pope Francis remembered Ukraine, reports Vatican News. During his prayer, he called on the world to make a “Christmas truce.” “Tormented Ukraine continues to be struck by attacks against the city,