Pope Francis urged the world's 1.2 billion Catholics to feel compassion for children

Christian leaders from the Vatican to Bethlehem struck a sombre note on Christmas Eve speaking of war, fear and division, as cities in Europe ramped up security in the shadow of the Berlin market attack.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis urged the world's 1.2 billion Catholics to feel compassion for children, notably victims of war, migration and homelessness in his Christmas Eve mass.
Addressing a 10,000-strong crowd late Saturday in St. Peter's Square, the pontiff urged worshippers to think of the children "hiding underground to escape bombardment", in apparent reference to Syria.
In Bethlehem, some 2,500 worshippers packed the Church of the Nativity complex, built over the grotto where Christians believe Jesus was born, for midnight mass in the Israeli-occupied West Bank near Jerusalem.
Like Pope Francis, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa also used his homily to plead for compassion for refugees and for a halt to the violence wracking the Middle East.