New Year’s Eve 2023 Mass with the Pope in the Vatican: Part 1 Happy New Year From The Pope

Pope Francis Happy New Year 2024 New Year’s Day Mass with the Pope in the Vatican: After mass the Pope will go to Peter’s Balcony to deliver his papal blessing to the watchful crowd at St Peter’s Square, weather permitting, of course. In 2020 the head of the Catholic Church was forced to give the Angelus blessing from the papal library due to poor weather. Last year was a solemn event: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 95, causing thousands of Catholics to gather in Saint Peter’s Square to remember the former leader of the Church; Pope Francis entrusted the soul of the late Benedict XVI to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Francis said in a Christmas Eve homily that “the clash of arms even today” prevents Jesus “from finding room in the world.” Recalling Jesus’ birth in a stable in Bethlehem, the pontiff delivered a poignant message to the 6,500 people who watched on: “Our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war”, he said, while taking time to warn against “the quest for worldly power and might, fame and glory, which measures everything in terms of success, results, numbers and figures, a world obsessed with achievement.”