Following the birth of the Saviour came the slaughter of the innocents, the Pope recalled, and he remembered the innocents, the „little Jesuses“ of today, who are victims „in their mothers’ wombs, in odysseys undertaken in desperation and in search of hope, in the lives of all those little ones whose childhood has been devastated by war.“

We must say „yes“ to peace and „no“ to war the Pope decried, as every war marks „a defeat without victors, an inexcusable folly.“ He also called for a „no“ to weaponry given that with human weakness we can often end up using it for war sooner or later.

Peace is even more difficult, he observed, „when arms production, sales, and trade are on the rise“ and public funds spent on arms can come at the expense of bread for the hungry. He decried „the interests and the profits that move the puppet strings of war.“ And these must be brought to light, „talked about and written about,“ he emphasised, since many have no idea how much of their public funds are being spent on weapons, whereas they should be informed.