Pope wraps up busy Christmas season by calling for culture of welcome in Christian communities

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up a busy Christmas season on Monday by calling for the faithful to promote a culture of welcome and integration in their communities and reject discrimination.

Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to mark Epiphany. According to the Bible, the feast marks the day that three wise men guided by a star came to visit the newborn Jesus. Francis said the star, in guiding humanity to God, doesn’t discriminate among ethnic, linguistic or national groups and is there for all.

“We do well to meditate on this today, in a world in which individuals and nations are equipped with ever more powerful means of communication, and yet seem to have become less willing to understand, accept and encounter others in their diversity!” he said in his homily.

God, he said, calls on Christians to reject anything that discriminates or excludes and discards people. He called instead for promoting “a strong culture of welcome, in which the narrow places of fear and denunciation are replaced by open spaces of encounter, integration and sharing of life; safe spaces where everyone can find warmth and shelter.”

Francis has long preached the Gospel-mandated need to welcome the stranger, applying it to migrants in particular.

The Epiphany Mass marked the end of a particularly busy Christmas season for Francis that also coincided with the start of the 2025 Holy Year. The once-ever-quarter-celebration of Christianity is expected to bring more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome over the next 12 months.

The 88-year-old pope has a daunting schedule ahead greeting and ministering to them, alongside his other papal duties.

And while he is wrapping up the Christmas season with Epiphany, he still has a busy week ahead. He'll deliver his annual foreign policy speech to the Holy See’s diplomatic corps, host a final meeting with President Joe Biden and preside over the baptism of babies in the Sistine Chapel.

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