Prince Andrew joins Queen and British royals for Christmas Day church service - CNN

The 59-year-old -- who is also known as the Duke of York -- walked to St. Mary Magdalene Church alongside his older brother, Prince Charles.

Andrew has kept a low profile since his withdrawal from public life last month following a disastrous BBC interview about his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The disgraced financier died by suicide in August.

A short time later, Queen Elizabeth II and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were seen arriving by car to a second public Christmas day service. The 93-year-old monarch traditionally spends the festive season with members of the royal family at Sandringham, her country estate in rural Norfolk, about 100 miles north of London.

The pair were met by the Queen's daughter, Princess Anne, at the gate of the church. The Queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, also attended, as did Prince William and his wife, Kate and two of their children, George and Charlotte.

Princess Beatrice also attended the service, appearing shortly after her father, Prince Andrew, was spotted with Prince Charles attending the earlier private family service.

The Queen's husband Prince Philip, who was discharged from a London hospital for an undisclosed condition on Tuesday, did not appear.

Two royals who were not in attendance for the royal Christmas tradition were the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have been spending family time in Canada. "They are enjoying sharing the warmth of the Canadian people and the beauty of the landscape with their young son," the spokesperson added.

The decision to base themselves in Canada reflected the importance of the Commonwealth country to them both, a spokesperson for the Sussexes previously told CNN.

Before joining the royal family, Meghan lived in Canada while she starred in legal drama "Suits," which was filmed in Toronto.

Later on Wednesday, the Queen will use her annual Christmas broadcast to reflect on the last 12 months, which she will describe as "quite bumpy."

In the message -- which was pre-recorded in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle -- the monarch will say that the path "is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference."

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2019-12-25 13:45:00Z
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Pope Francis delivers Christmas Day message of hope in face of darkness - Fox News

Pope Francis offered a message of hope during his traditional Christmas Day Mass in St. Peter’s Square, telling the thousands who attended the service that “the light of Christ is greater” than the darkness “in human hearts” and “in economic, geopolitical and ecological conflicts.”

Tens of thousands of tourists, pilgrims and Romans gathered for the traditional Christmas message. The pope was flanked by Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the papal council for migrants, and Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the pope’s official almsgiver.

POPE FRANCIS MARKS CHRISTMAS EVE WITH REMINDER THAT GOD LOVES 'EVEN THE WORST OF US'

Pope Francis cited the Syrian people “who still see no end to the hostilities that have rent their country over the last decade” and Israel, where Jesus “was born as the savior of mankind and where so many people -- struggling but not discouraged -- still await a time of peace, security and prosperity.”

Pope Francis looks at the crowd after he delivered the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for 'to the city and to the world' ) Christmas' day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

The pope expanded on his remarks about migrants, saying they were forced by injustice “to emigrate in the hope of a secure life.” Francis said their injustice continues along their journey toward finding acceptance. The pope said migrants often face abuse, enslavement, and torture in “inhumane detention camps” and death during dangerous sea excursions to find freedom elsewhere.

POPE FRANCIS WARNS OF ‘RIGIDITY,’ SAYS CHURCH MUST ADAPT OR IT WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY IRRELEVANT

Francis called for the easing of crises in Lebanon and Iraq and the “grave humanitarian crisis” in Yemen. He noted that several countries in the Americas are “experiencing a time of social and political upheaval,” citing the strife in Venezuela.

The pope offered prayers for those in several African nations, including where people have been “persecuted for their religious faith.”

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Separately, Francis and two other religious leaders urged the rival factions of South Sudan to maintain a pledge to form a coalition government next year. A peace deal to end a five-year civil war was signed last year but a November deadline to form a coalition government was extended to February as the main aspects of the peace agreement still need to be resolved.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-12-25 12:45:37Z
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Prince Andrew joins Queen and British royals for Christmas Day church service - CNN

The 59-year-old -- who is also known as the Duke of York -- walked to St. Mary Magdalene Church alongside his older brother, Prince Charles.

Andrew has kept a low profile since his withdrawal from public life last month following a disastrous BBC interview about his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The disgraced financier died by suicide in August.

A short time later, Queen Elizabeth II and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were seen arriving by car to a second public Christmas day service. The 93-year-old monarch traditionally spends the festive season with members of the royal family at Sandringham, her country estate in rural Norfolk, about 100 miles north of London.

The pair were met by the Queen's daughter, Princess Anne, at the gate of the church. The Queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, also attended, as did Prince William and his wife, Kate and two of their children, George and Charlotte.

Princess Beatrice also attended the service, appearing shortly after her father, Prince Andrew, was spotted with Prince Charles attending the earlier private family service.

The Queen's husband Prince Philip, who was discharged from a London hospital for an undisclosed condition on Tuesday, did not appear.

Two royals who were not in attendance for the royal Christmas tradition were the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have been spending family time in Canada. "They are enjoying sharing the warmth of the Canadian people and the beauty of the landscape with their young son," the spokesperson added.

The decision to base themselves in Canada reflected the importance of the Commonwealth country to them both, a spokesperson for the Sussexes previously told CNN.

Before joining the royal family, Meghan lived in Canada while she starred in legal drama "Suits," which was filmed in Toronto.

Later on Wednesday, the Queen will use her annual Christmas broadcast to reflect on the last 12 months, which she will describe as "quite bumpy."

In the message -- which was pre-recorded in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle -- the monarch will say that the path "is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference."

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2019-12-25 12:21:00Z
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Pope in Christmas message urges softening of 'self-centred hearts' - BBC News

The Pope has prayed for a softening of "stony and self-centred hearts" to help end injustice in the world, in his Christmas Day message.

From the Vatican balcony, Pope Francis spoke of "walls of indifference" being put up to people fleeing hardship in the hope of finding a better life.

The Pope prayed for those hit by conflict, natural disasters and disease, listing several countries.

He singled out parts of Africa where Christians had been killed.

Speaking under a clear blue sky to thousands crowded into St Peter's Square, the Pope urged "comfort to those who are persecuted for their religious faith, especially missionaries and members of the faithful who have been kidnapped, and to the victims of attacks by extremist groups, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria".

An attack on Christmas Eve in Burkina Faso left 35 people dead, most of them women.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the country over the past few years, mostly by jihadist groups.

• In pictures: Christmas around the world

Hours earlier, in a rare joint message with two other Western Church leaders, the Pope appealed for peace in South Sudan.

In their statement, the pontiff, the head of the Anglican Church and the former moderator of the Church of Scotland called for "a renewed commitment to the path of reconciliation and fraternity".

South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in 2011 but has been crippled by conflict ever since.

In what was his seventh "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the City and the World") Christmas Day address, the Pope also highlighted other hotspots of unrest including Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Venezuela, Ukraine and the Holy Land.

For change to happen for the better, he said, people had to be more compassionate.

"May [God] soften our often stony and self-centred hearts, and make them channels of His love. May He bring His smile, through our poor faces, to all the children of the world: to those who are abandoned and those who suffer violence," he said.

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2019-12-25 11:54:00Z
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Prince Andrew joins Queen and British royals for Christmas Day church service - CNN

The 59-year-old -- who is also known as the Duke of York -- walked to St. Mary Magdalene Church alongside his older brother, Prince Charles.

Andrew withdrew from public life last month after a disastrous BBC interview about his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Queen Elizabeth II also attended, as did her youngest son, Prince Edward.

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2019-12-25 10:27:00Z
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Pope Francis: God still loves us all, even the worst of us - BBC News

Pope Francis has ushered in Christmas by saying God loves everyone - "even the worst of us".

He was speaking to thousands of people during Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

"You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things... but the Lord continues to love you," the Argentine pontiff said.

This will be interpreted by some as a reference to Church scandals, including sex abuse, our correspondent says.

Pope Francis will return to St Peter's Basilica later on Christmas Day to deliver the traditional papal message to the world.

Among those taking part in the Mass were children chosen from countries including Venezuela, Iraq and Uganda.

The BBC's Rome correspondent Mark Lowen says this is a clear gesture from the leader of 1.3 billion Catholics who often focuses on the plight of migrants and victims of war, as well as on extending the reach of the Church to its periphery.

What did the Pope say?

"Christmas reminds us that God continues to love us all, even the worst of us. To me, to you, to each of us, he says today: 'I love you and I will always love you, for you are precious in my eyes,'" the 83-year-old pontiff said.

"God does not love you because you think and act the right way. He loves you, plain and simple. His love is unconditional; it does not depend on you."

And the Pope also alluded to the clerical abuse and financial scandals afflicting the Church.

"Whatever goes wrong in our lives, whatever doesn't work in the Church, whatever problems there are in the world, will no longer serve as an excuse."

What's the context?

From Australian country towns to schools in Ireland and cities across the US, the Catholic Church has faced a catalogue of child sexual abuse accusations in the past few decades.

High-profile cases and harrowing testimony given to public inquiries have continued to keep the issue in the headlines.

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In the most recent of these, Cardinal George Pell was convicted of abusing two choir boys in Melbourne in 1996. He is Australia's highest-ranking Catholic, and was previously Vatican treasurer - meaning he was widely seen as the Church's third most powerful official.

Last week, the Pope introduced sweeping changes to remove the rule of "pontifical secrecy" that has pervaded the issue of clerical child abuse.

The Church previously shrouded sexual abuse cases in secrecy, in what it said was an effort to protect the privacy of victims and reputations of the accused.

But new papal documents lifted restrictions on those who report abuse or say they have been victims.

The Pope also changed the Vatican's definition of child pornography, increasing the age of the subject from 14 or under to 18 or under.

Pope Francis has faced serious pressure to provide leadership and generate workable solutions to the crisis, which has engulfed the Church in recent years.

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2019-12-25 07:47:48Z
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Burkina Faso mourns dozens of victims after double attack - Al Jazeera English

An attack in Burkina Faso has killed 35 civilians, almost all of them women, in one of the deadliest assaults to hit the West African country in nearly five years of violence.

Seven soldiers and 80 armed fighters were also killed in Tuesday's double attack on a military base and Arbinda town in Soum province, in the country's north, according to the military.

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Burkina Faso, bordering Mali and Niger, has seen regular attacks - hundreds have been killed since the start of 2015 when violence began to spread across the Sahel region.

"A large group of terrorists simultaneously attacked the military base and the civilian population in Arbinda," the army chief of staff said in a statement.

"The heroic action of our soldiers has made it possible to neutralise 80 terrorists," President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said. "This barbaric attack resulted in the death of 35 civilians, most of them women."

Remis Dandjinou, communications minister and government spokesman, later said 31 of the civilian victims were women.

"People, women, for the most part, were getting water and got murdered in cold blood by the terrorists while they were retreating. We must show compassion with the population, that is why all flags will fly at half-mast for two days and all Christmas celebrations are cancelled."

Islam is the dominant religion in Burkina Faso, a country of about 20 million people, but there is a sizeable Christian minority of about 20 percent.

The president has declared 48 hours of national mourning.

The morning raid was carried out by dozens of fighters on motorbikes and lasted several hours before troops, backed by the air force, drove the attackers back, the army said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but previous violence in Burkina Faso has been blamed on fighters linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) groups.

"This is the worst attack ever, as far as I know, in Burkina Faso, which had its first terrorism attack only in 2015," said William Lawrence, visiting professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University's Elliott School. "Both their frequency and lethality have been increasing, but this is much much worse.

"This is a group led by someone from Burkina Faso, who's recruiting fighters from Burkina Faso, even though they launch attacks from Mali. And while they are trying to sow chaos and they are under pressure from the French, their main goal is to liberate this area and establish an Islamic state, not unlike what we saw in north Mali in 2012."

560,000 internally displaced

Leaders of the G5 Sahel nations held summit talks in Niger earlier this month, calling for closer cooperation and international support against attacks.

Violence has spread across the Sahel, especially Burkina Faso and Niger, since 2012 when fighters revolted in northern Mali.

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The Sahel region lies to the south of the Sahara Desert and stretches across the breadth of the African continent.

The G5 group is made up of Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, whose impoverished armies have the support of French forces as well as the United Nations in Mali.

In Burkina Faso, more than 700 people have been killed since 2015 and about 560,000 are currently internally displaced, according to the UN.

Attacks usually strike the north and east of the country, though the capital Ouagadougou has been targeted three times.

Prior to Tuesday's attack, Burkina security forces said they had killed about 100 fighters in several operations since November.

In November, an ambush on a convoy transporting employees of a Canadian mining company killed 37 people.

Attacks have intensified this year as the under-equipped, poorly trained Burkina Faso army struggles to contain the violence.

"They (fighters) are going to keep going... with what the French are doing, and other security forces in the region," said Lawrence. "They will keep attacking and continue to recruit people because the security forces in Burkina have themselves been committing some atrocities.

"Populations are on the run now and they do not know who to trust."

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2019-12-25 06:45:00Z
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