Pope Francis for a world of peace

Christmas chimes echoed Thursday throughout the world. For Catholic Christians, eyes were riveted on the Vatican and ears strained to hear the traditional message of circumstance by the Pope.

During midnight mass, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the Pontiff folded to the exercise with the style: honest, sharp and didactic. In a world mired in wars and in danger to religious fundamentalism, Pope Francis called the Catholics of the world to open up to God to fight 'the darkness and corruption'.

Beyond the Catholic faithful, he asked the world to demonstrate "tenderness" towards "soft" and "hard" situations. For the Holy Father, there is no need to give into anger. You have to show empathy for people in difficulty. "As the world needs tenderness today!" summed up Francis.

His message occured in a context where many hotbeds of tension persist in the four corners of the globe. The drama of Christians and other religious minorities persecuted in the Middle East, by the Group of the Islamic State drew the attention of Francis.

In Africa, violence fundamentalist that swells from Nigeria in the Sahel, thousands of deaths from the Ebola virus challenge. It is same for the war in Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the conflict in Ukraine.

"We have the courage to welcome tenderly difficult situations and problems that is next to us, or well do we prefer the impersonal solutions?" Speaking of "impersonal and effective solutions", the Pope denounced derivatives of contemporary society where individualism has became the rule.

The tragedy of migrants fleeing poverty and are victims of smugglers, the reception of foreigners by the rich countries, the trafficking and natural disasters, for example, do not always find appropriate responses.

'Simple people' have seen 'the light of God's gift' at Christmas, but "the arrogant, those who establish laws according to their own personal criteria, those who assume attitudes of closure have not seen", said Pope Francis.