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Rome (dpa) - No proximity and hardly any believers: For Pope Francis and the Catholics in many countries, an unusual Christmas party has come to an end in the Corona year.

On Boxing Day, St. Stephen's Remembrance Day, Francis prayed for the persecuted Christians in the world on Saturday.

According to tradition, as a preacher, St. Stephen was stoned to death on false accusations and is considered the first Christian martyr.

The prayer has been moved to the library of the Apostolic Palace due to the Corona restrictions.

Otherwise the Pope would say the prayer to the believers in St. Peter's Square from the window of the palace.

In Italy, however, strict Corona rules apply over the Christmas holidays until the beginning of January and a nightly exit restriction from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following day.

Getting to St. Peter's Square would have been difficult for many.

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In view of the Corona rules, Francis had already donated the papal blessing «Urbi et orbi» (The city and the world) to a smaller group from the Benediction Hall of the Apostolic Palace on Friday and announced his Christmas message there.

Usually a sea of ​​pilgrims awaits the Pope on St. Peter's Square - this year it was swept empty.

With the blessing, the Pope releases the believers from the penalties for their sins, if they have already extinguished them beforehand, for example in confession or through prayers.

Because of the corona pandemic this year, Francis even donated the blessing extraordinarily on March 27th, usually for Christmas, Easter and after an election of the Pope.

In his message, the head of the Catholic Church thought of the people in the world who suffer from violence, terror or natural disasters and prayed for peace.

He had also drawn attention to the difficult situation of many as a result of the corona pandemic and prayed for solidarity with them;

for women who have been victims of domestic violence or people who have lost their jobs during the crisis.

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The corona vaccine should also be made available to all people, especially the most vulnerable, he had demanded.

“We're all in the same boat,” said the 84-year-old.

In the Holy Land, too, the believers had to celebrate the Christmas celebrations under Corona conditions this year.

The head of the Catholic Church there, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, had prayed for an end to the corona pandemic.

Because of Corona, only Christian dignitaries took part in the midnight mass in Bethlehem, the place in the West Bank that is venerated as the birthplace of Jesus.

For the first time in his 15 years in office, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was unable to attend.

The central manger square next to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem had remained empty this year.

Otherwise thousands of pilgrims and tourists crowd there.

The traditional Christmas procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem was much smaller on Thursday than usual.

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In Rome, too, the Catholics celebrated Christmas mass on the same day with a limited number of participants.

In the Corona year, it had to be brought forward to 7.30 p.m. due to the nightly exit restrictions in Italy.

With just over 100 believers, fewer people celebrated mass in St. Peter's Basilica than usual.

Francis had reminded of charity.

With reference to the Christmas story, he preached that the manger was poor in everything but rich in love and taught that the nourishment of life was to be loved by God and to love others.

The pontiff had also warned that his life should not be used to pity himself but to "comfort the tears of those who suffer".

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201226-99-816122 / 2