In a powerful address at the Vatican on Monday, Pope Leo XIV delivered a dual message condemning religious violence while reaffirming the Catholic Church’s staunch anti-abortion stance. The first American pontiff in history expressed outrage over the deadly terrorist attack that occurred during a Jewish holiday celebration in Sydney, Australia.
Speaking before donors of the Vatican’s Christmas decorations, Pope Leo characterized the Bondi Beach massacre that claimed 15 lives as an act of ‘antisemitic violence.’ He offered prayers for the victims and called for the ‘gift of peace and fraternity’ during the holiday season. ‘We must eliminate hatred from our hearts,’ the pontiff declared, adding ‘Enough of these forms of antisemitic violence!’
The Pope simultaneously emphasized the sanctity of life through an unusual artistic installation. The Nativity scene in the Vatican’s audience hall, donated by Costa Rica, featured 28,000 colored ribbons symbolizing embryos reportedly saved from abortion through Catholic organizations’ interventions. Leo described this display as a message that ‘life is protected from conception’ and thanked the artist for this representation of protected life.
Regarding the Christmas decorations donated by various Italian regions, the Pope noted that the evergreen fir trees serve as ‘a sign of life and recall the hope that isn’t lacking even in the winter cold.’ The address thus wove together themes of interfaith solidarity, anti-violence advocacy, and traditional Catholic teachings on the protection of life from conception.