On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis appeals for courage to better the world

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis said the story of Jesus' birth as a poor carpenter's son should instil hope that all people can make an impact on the world, as the pontiff on Tuesday led the world's Roman Catholics into Christmas.

Francis, celebrating the 12th Christmas of his pontificate, presided at a solemn Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and opened the 2025 Catholic Holy Year, which the Vatican expects will bring some 32 million tourists to Rome next year.

In a sermon focused on the virtue of hope, which is also the theme of the Holy Year, the pontiff said hope "is a summons not to tarry, to be kept back by our old habits, or to wallow in mediocrity or laziness".

"Hope calls us ... to be upset with things that are wrong and to find the courage to change them," he said.

A Catholic Holy Year, also known as a Jubilee, is considered a time of peace, forgiveness and pardon. They normally occur every 25 years. Pilgrims coming to Rome during the year can obtain special indulgences, or remission of their sins. This Jubilee will run through Jan. 6, 2026.

At the beginning of Tuesday's ceremony, Francis oversaw the opening of a special bronze-panelled "Holy Door" at St. Peter's, which is only open during Jubilee years. The Vatican expects up to 100,000 pilgrims to walk through the door each day next year.

At the papal Mass for an estimated 6,000 people in St. Peter's Basilica and 25,000 more watching on screens in the square outside, the pope also repeated an earlier call for developed nations to use the Jubilee to reduce the debt burden faced by low-income countries.

"The Jubilee calls us to spiritual renewal and commits us to the transformation of our world," said the pontiff. "A time of jubilee for the poorer countries burdened beneath unfair debts; a time of jubilee for all those who are in bondage to forms of slavery old and new."

A call for direct debt cancellation made by the late Pope John Paul II during the Jubilee year in 2000 sparked a campaign that resulted in $130 billion of debt cancellation between 2000 and 2015.

Francis, who turned 88 this month, has been suffering from what the Vatican has described as a cold. He appeared on good form Tuesday evening, although his voice was a little raspy.

On Wednesday, the pope will deliver his Christmas Day "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message and blessing.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; editing by Barbara Lewis)