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Pope Leo XIV dur­ing his first Christ­mas Day homi­ly on Thurs­day re­mem­bered the peo­ple of Gaza “ex­posed for weeks to rain, wind and cold” and said the world’s many con­flicts can on­ly be si­lenced through di­a­logue.

Leo led the Christ­mas Day Mass from the cen­tral al­tar be­neath the balustrade of St. Pe­ter’s Basil­i­ca, adorned with flo­ral gar­lands and clus­ters of red poin­set­tias. White flow­ers were set at the feet of a stat­ue of Mary, moth­er of Je­sus, whose birth is cel­e­brat­ed on Christ­mas Day.

Re­call­ing that God was made flesh through Je­sus’s birth in a manger in Beth­le­hem, Leo likened God’s word to “a frag­ile tent among us.”