In his first Christmas speech after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the Archbishop of Canterbury lauded the life of service led by the late monarch.
Justin Welby stated that the Queen “placed her interests after those of the people she served.”
His sermon also recalled individuals enduring “immense” hardship due to the cost-of-living issue in the United Kingdom.
And despite the gloom in the world, he continued, the birth of Jesus Christ offers “unconquerable hope.”
As he presented his traditional Christmas Day address, the archbishop mentioned the “desperate challenges of hospital wards” as well as those who travel in small boats to reach the United Kingdom.
Mr. Welby stated that the late Queen “lived a life of service and placed her interests after those of the people she served in obedience to the Christ-child.”
In his sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, he thanked those who have shown compassion and service to others over the past year, including a 10-year-old girl he met serving at a food bank in Canterbury, individuals who have accepted refugees into their homes, NHS personnel, and life-boat crews.
During the cost-of-living crisis in the United Kingdom, the archbishop voiced concern for those experiencing “extreme worry and misery.”
He said, “In Jesus Christ, God reaches out to each one of us here; to those who, like his family, have no resources, into the dark cells of prisons, into the desperate struggles of hospital wards, to those on small boats, to the hopeless…and says, ‘Take me into your heart and life, let me set you free from the darkness that surrounds and fills you, for I have been there myself.
“And God says that in me there is forgiveness, hope, life, and joy, regardless of who you are or what you’ve done,”
He pleaded with South Sudan and Russia to cease their respective hostilities, stating that “the world watches, cares, and holds authorities accountable for justice.”
He stated, “Even where the world forgetfully turns a blind eye to injustice and misery and pays no attention to a conflict, God is present through Jesus in the world… God has not abandoned us.”
As he recalled being next to a mass grave in a churchyard in Bucha, Ukraine in the spring, he stated, “We are aware of the gloom.”
Even in Bucharest, despite all the misery, darkness cannot overwhelm brightness.
The Anglican and Catholic archbishops of Wales honored “the memories of a selfless and dedicated queen” in separate Christmas messages.
During Christmas Eve Mass at the Vatican, Pope Francis appeared to refer to the Ukraine war and other conflicts when he criticized human “hunger for wealth and power.”
He exclaimed, “How many conflicts have we witnessed!” where the primary victims were “the defenseless and the weak.”
