The Pope has delivered his New Year’s homily for 2025, in which he warned Catholics not to “invent God in the abstract”.
Referring to vague, self-serving forms of spirituality, Pope Francis said: “many people today find attractive… [believing in] feeling or fleeting emotion”.
“God was ‘born of a woman’; he has a face and a name, and calls us to have a relationship with him. Christ Jesus, our Saviour, born of woman, has flesh and blood.
“From the highest heaven, he comes down to earth. Son of God, he becomes the Son of man. The image of the Almighty God, Christ came among us in weakness.”
The Pontiff also used his address to call for peace, insisting: “War is always a defeat, always.”
2025 is a Jubilee Year for the Vatican, calling Catholics to forgive one another their debts and reconcile their relationships with God. Francis extended this invitation to global politics, urging “the leaders of countries with Christian traditions to set a good example, by cancelling or reducing as much as possible the debts of the poorest countries.”
The Jubilee Year will last until 6th January, 2026.