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🔴An unprecedented Christmas around the world, at the time of confinement.
Between masses in small groups, small or separated families, the usual forbidden festivities, the 2020 Christmas edition will have been like a year made of dangers and restrictions, with the main ray of hope being the arrival of vaccines.
In his Christmas message, sent by video, Pope Francis on Friday launched a call for "vaccines for all, especially for the most vulnerable", stressing that "the laws of the market and patents of invention" must not do the law facing “the health of humanity”.
"At this historic moment, marked by the ecological crisis and by serious economic and social imbalances aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, we need fraternity more than ever", declared the one who is at the head of the 1.3 billion Catholics around the world.
The coronavirus has killed more than 1.7 million people on the planet and the sources of contamination which continue to appear remind us that despite the arrival of the first vaccines, life will not soon return to its normal course.
"Not alone"
In her Christmas address, Queen Elizabeth II worked to instill hope, present "even in the darkest nights", to the British, hard hit by COVID-19 which has killed around 70,000 people in United Kingdom.
"For many, this year is marked by sadness: some mourn the loss of a loved one, others miss friends and family, while they would like for Christmas a simple hug or pressure of the hand", noted the 94-year-old sovereign. "If this is your case, you are not alone".
The restrictions imposed everywhere to deal with a virus that does not seem to want to give way will leave unprecedented images of this Christmas.
The Pope certainly celebrated Christmas Eve Mass as every year in the gigantic Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, which can accommodate thousands of believers. But they were only 200 masked faithful Thursday evening, mostly employees of the tiny Vatican State.
And Thursday evening the Place Saint-Pierre, illuminated by its monumental Christmas tree, was deserted, crossed by a police car. The Italians indeed began Thursday a containment for the holidays, in the country most affected in Europe by the virus, with nearly 71,000 dead.
Empty Bethlehem
The Christmas night mass commemorates in Christian tradition the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in Bethlehem.
But in Bethlehem too, in the Basilica of the Nativity, only a handful of faithful and clerics celebrated midnight mass, seeking a bit of "light" after a year of "darkness".
A few hundred people wearing masks and umbrellas watched the procession pass through the streets of the city, to the sound of drums and bagpipes.
"It's different this year because we don't come to pray at the Church of the Nativity, we can't get together as a family, everyone is afraid," said Jania Shaheen, present with her husband and her two children in front of the basilica.
Christmas in Dover
Germany was forced to cancel its famous Christmas markets while in Kuwait, churches were closed until January 10 despite the presence of a large Christian community.
The Republic of Congo-Brazzaville announced a reconfinement on Christmas Day and January 1, angering the bishops.
In Spain, the Covid did not prevent the holding of the traditional Copa Nadal (Christmas Cup), a swimming race in the port of Barcelona (north-east).
In Qamichli, in northeastern Syria controlled by Kurdish forces, the population ignored the pandemic and witnessed a large tree-lighting ceremony in a Christian quarter.
Muslims and Christians mingled to dance dabké to traditional music in front of the illuminated tree.
In Iraq, volunteers from the Tahawor association (dialogue in Arabic) brought to Qaraqosh, a Christian town that was terrorized by the jihadist group Islamic State, thousands of Christmas cards and greetings from all parts of the country . “A special wish to our Christian brothers,” read on a signed card in Basra, in the south.
Far away, thousands of European truck drivers spent New Year's Eve in precarious conditions, stuck around the port of Dover in the United Kingdom, a country which is slowly emerging from the isolation caused by the appearance on its soil of a new strain of coronavirus.
“I don't have the words to describe how we feel. All our families are waiting for us, it breaks our hearts, ”sighed Pawel, a 34-year-old Polish driver
🔴An unprecedented Christmas around the world, at the time of confinement.
Between masses in small groups, small or separated families, the usual forbidden festivities, the 2020 Christmas edition will have been like a year made of dangers and restrictions, with the main ray of hope being the arrival of vaccines.
In his Christmas message, sent by video, Pope Francis on Friday launched a call for "vaccines for all, especially for the most vulnerable", stressing that "the laws of the market and patents of invention" must not do the law facing “the health of humanity”.
"At this historic moment, marked by the ecological crisis and by serious economic and social imbalances aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, we need fraternity more than ever", declared the one who is at the head of the 1.3 billion Catholics around the world.
The coronavirus has killed more than 1.7 million people on the planet and the sources of contamination which continue to appear remind us that despite the arrival of the first vaccines, life will not soon return to its normal course.
"Not alone"
In her Christmas address, Queen Elizabeth II worked to instill hope, present "even in the darkest nights", to the British, hard hit by COVID-19 which has killed around 70,000 people in United Kingdom.
"For many, this year is marked by sadness: some mourn the loss of a loved one, others miss friends and family, while they would like for Christmas a simple hug or pressure of the hand", noted the 94-year-old sovereign. "If this is your case, you are not alone".
The restrictions imposed everywhere to deal with a virus that does not seem to want to give way will leave unprecedented images of this Christmas.
The Pope certainly celebrated Christmas Eve Mass as every year in the gigantic Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, which can accommodate thousands of believers. But they were only 200 masked faithful Thursday evening, mostly employees of the tiny Vatican State.
And Thursday evening the Place Saint-Pierre, illuminated by its monumental Christmas tree, was deserted, crossed by a police car. The Italians indeed began Thursday a containment for the holidays, in the country most affected in Europe by the virus, with nearly 71,000 dead.
Empty Bethlehem
The Christmas night mass commemorates in Christian tradition the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in Bethlehem.
But in Bethlehem too, in the Basilica of the Nativity, only a handful of faithful and clerics celebrated midnight mass, seeking a bit of "light" after a year of "darkness".
A few hundred people wearing masks and umbrellas watched the procession pass through the streets of the city, to the sound of drums and bagpipes.
"It's different this year because we don't come to pray at the Church of the Nativity, we can't get together as a family, everyone is afraid," said Jania Shaheen, present with her husband and her two children in front of the basilica.
Christmas in Dover
Germany was forced to cancel its famous Christmas markets while in Kuwait, churches were closed until January 10 despite the presence of a large Christian community.
The Republic of Congo-Brazzaville announced a reconfinement on Christmas Day and January 1, angering the bishops.
In Spain, the Covid did not prevent the holding of the traditional Copa Nadal (Christmas Cup), a swimming race in the port of Barcelona (north-east).
In Qamichli, in northeastern Syria controlled by Kurdish forces, the population ignored the pandemic and witnessed a large tree-lighting ceremony in a Christian quarter.
Muslims and Christians mingled to dance dabké to traditional music in front of the illuminated tree.
In Iraq, volunteers from the Tahawor association (dialogue in Arabic) brought to Qaraqosh, a Christian town that was terrorized by the jihadist group Islamic State, thousands of Christmas cards and greetings from all parts of the country . “A special wish to our Christian brothers,” read on a signed card in Basra, in the south.
Far away, thousands of European truck drivers spent New Year's Eve in precarious conditions, stuck around the port of Dover in the United Kingdom, a country which is slowly emerging from the isolation caused by the appearance on its soil of a new strain of coronavirus.
“I don't have the words to describe how we feel. All our families are waiting for us, it breaks our hearts, ”sighed Pawel, a 34-year-old Polish driver