Pope shares Christmas message, marking start of the 2025 Holy Year for Catholics worldwide
CBSN
Pope Francis delivered a plea for peace in a world torn by conflict in his 2024 Christmas Day "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the City and the World") address. It came as Christmas marked the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that is expected to bring some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome.
"I invite every individual, and all people of all nations ... to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions," the pontiff said, speaking from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to a crowd of thousands of people in the square below.
He urged negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to "achieve a just and lasting peace" and end the war that has killed tens of thousands since Moscow's full-scale invasion more than two years ago. The conflict did not pause for the holiday, as Russia carried out what it called a "massive strike" targeting energy facilities in Ukraine on Christmas Day.
West Virginia native Rachel Braslavi says she moved into her new home so that her family could have more space, and more of a community feel. But she faces bigger questions than she might with a typical home purchase. Their community is the Israeli settlement of Karnei Shomron, located inside the occupied West Bank.
Pope Francis told Vatican bureaucrats on Saturday to stop speaking ill of one another, as he once again used his annual Christmas greetings to admonish the backstabbing and gossiping among his closest collaborators.
France's anti-terrorism court on Friday convicted eight people of involvement in the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty outside his school near Paris four years ago, a horrific death that shocked the country.
At least two people were killed and dozens were injured after a car plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday. Authorities said it appeared to be a deliberate attack.
Swedish police said Friday a man had been shot dead in a parking garage in the city of Norrkoping, with media identifying the victim as the rapper Gaboro, who reportedly had links to criminal gangs.
Seven inmates were killed in a prison riot in southern Mexico, when inmates resisting transfers to other jails fought police with guns and knives, authorities said late Thursday.
A 7-year-old girl was killed and at least five other students and a teacher were wounded in a knife attack at a school in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, on Friday, police said. The local hospital said the wounded teacher had suffered life-threatening injuries, Reuters reported.
Southern Gaza Strip — In a rare moment of access to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, CBS News visited a critical aid distribution center on Wednesday just inside the Gaza Strip, near the Karem Shalom border crossing from Israel. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza after more than a year of the Israel-Hamas war remains dire.
The Guinness World Records are known for highlighting the most interesting, unique and even strange occurrences of human nature across the globe.
Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made a rare admission of failings by his powerful security agencies over the Ukraine-orchestrated killing of a senior general in Moscow. Lt. General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian military's chemical and biological weapons unit, was killed by a bomb planted in a scooter in Moscow on Tuesday, the boldest assassination claimed by Kyiv since the start of the conflict.
Two highway crashes in southeastern Afghanistan killed a combined total of 50 people and injured 76, a government spokesman said Thursday.