An­gli­can Bish­op of Trinidad and To­ba­go, the Right Rev­erend Claude Berkley, has called on cit­i­zens to em­brace hope, com­pas­sion, and ac­tion as the na­tion cel­e­brates Christ­mas, a sea­son he de­scribed as es­pe­cial­ly sig­nif­i­cant amid grow­ing anx­i­ety and un­cer­tain­ty.

In his Christ­mas mes­sage, Bish­op Berkley said the pe­ri­od marked the Feast of the In­car­na­tion, when Chris­tians cel­e­brate Je­sus com­ing to seek out hu­man­i­ty and to lead peo­ple “to new­ness of life and to a bet­ter re­al­i­ty”.

He said the mes­sage of Christ­mas car­ried par­tic­u­lar weight at a time when many peo­ple were ex­pe­ri­enc­ing anx­i­ety, fear, stress, and a range of con­cerns, with some feel­ing com­plete­ly with­out hope.