The pontiff declared "Enough wars, enough violence!" while presenting a scene by two Palestinian artists near the Vatican on Saturday.

In 2024, Pope Francis presented a Nativity scene displayed at the Vatican that featured baby Jesus wrapped in a kaffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf.

"In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring," Pope Francis said in preparation.

For many, the keffiyeh represents more than a cultural artifact; it has become a political symbol fraught with associations to anti-Israel sentiment and, in some cases, violence and terrorism. Critics accused the Vatican of injecting political messaging into a religious celebration and misrepresenting the apolitical message of their Christ’s birth.

Pope Francis created an online uproar when he was seen unveiling the Vatican's annual nativity scene that featured a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf.

"Let us continue to pray for peace, in tormented Ukraine, in the Middle East — Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and now Syria — in Myanmar, in Sudan, and wherever people suffer from war and violence," Pope Francis said on Dec.

Assuring the crowd of the sustainable harvesting of the tree, the pope compared the rings in the 98-foot-tall tree to the generations of believers gathering around the single image of Jesus.

During the Angelus prayer at the Vatican, Pope Francis called for a global ceasefire during the Christmas holidays, emphasizing the need for peace and dialogue. Pope Francis, addressing the faithful gathered in St.