Christmas should make us reflect on meaning of life – Pope Francis

Pope Francis has called on people in developed countries to live a simpler and less materialistic life. He also condemned the huge divide between the world’s rich and poor, saying Jesus’s birth in poverty in a stable should make everyone reflect on the meaning of life.

The BBC reports that Pope Francis spoke out while leading a service in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican for the traditional Christmas Eve Mass. It is the 82-year-old’s sixth Christmas as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Vatican News reports that the Pope noted that Bethlehem means “house of bread”, and that Mary laid Jesus in a manger. “It is as if he wanted to say: ‘Here I am, as your food’.”

The Pope said Jesus gives us his very self, teaching us to live our lives in a new way: “not by devouring and hoarding, but by sharing and giving.” We feed on Jesus, the bread of life, and are reborn in love, breaking the vicious cycle of grasping and greed.

In Scripture, said the Pope, humanity’s original sin was to take and eat a forbidden food. “Mankind became greedy and voracious.” Even today, he said, a few people often eat splendid meals while a great many others go without even enough bread to survive.

“Standing before the manger, we understand that the food of life is not material riches but love, not gluttony but charity, not ostentation but simplicity,” he said.

In his homily, Pope Francis said the birth of Christ pointed to a new way to live “not by devouring and hoarding, but by sharing and giving”.

He continued: “Let us ask ourselves: Do I really need all these material objects and complicated recipes for living? Can I manage without all these unnecessary extras and live a life of greater simplicity?

“For many people, life’s meaning is found in possessing, in having an excess of material objects. An insatiable greed marks all human history, even today, when, paradoxically, a few dine luxuriantly while all too many go without the daily bread needed to survive.”