Pope Francis on Saturday called for dialogue to counter the isolation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, as billions around the world marked a second Christmas under the shadow of the virus.
An explosion in cases driven by the rise of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has meant another Christmas season tainted by the pandemic, with longed-for family reunions overshadowed by the prospect of yet more COVID-19 restrictions.
In his traditional Urbi et Orbi Christmas Day blessing, the pope told those gathered in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican that “our capacity for social relationships is sorely tried; there is a growing tendency to withdraw, to do it all by ourselves, to stop making an effort to encounter others and do things together.”
Photo: Reuters
“On the international level, too, there is the risk of avoiding dialogue,” the 85-year-old Argentine pontiff said. “Yet only those paths can lead to the resolution of conflicts and to lasting benefits for all.”
In the south of the Philippines, Father Ricardo Virtudazo celebrated Christmas Day mass standing in a pool of water in his typhoon-hit church.
He and dozens of devotees prayed for a better year after the storm killed nearly 400 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
Marites Sotis said she would usually serve up meat, spring rolls and salad for Christmas, but her family was struggling after the storm felled most of their coconut trees.
“We won’t have those this year, because they cost a lot of money,” the 53-year-old said. “We’ll make do with spaghetti.”
For the second year, surging infections have complicated holiday plans, from Sydney to Seville.
More than 6,000 flights have been canceled worldwide over the long Christmas weekend and thousands more were delayed, the Flightaware.com tracking Web site reported yesterday.
More than 2,800 flights were scrubbed around the globe on Saturday, including more than 990 originating from or headed to US airports, with more than 8,500 delays as of 5am GMT, Flightaware.com said.
On Friday, there were about 2,400 cancellations and 11,000 delays, while yesterday’s cancellations were at nearly 1,500 with more than 1,400 delays also reported.
Pilots, flight attendants and other employees have been calling in sick or having to quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19.
Millions of Americans were nevertheless traveling to see loved ones for Christmas, even as COVID-19 infections surpassed the peak of the previous wave and hospitals ran out of beds.
In his first Christmas address as US president, Joe Biden commended Americans for their strength and resilience in the face of the raging pandemic, urging “hope and renewal” during the holiday season.
In Europe, governments have been reimposing safety measures as COVID-19 cases again shoot up.
France notched a record number of COVID-19 cases for the third day in a row, breaking the barrier of 100,000 infections in 24 hours.
In the UK, which has also been hitting one record high after another in the past few days, health staff in Santa hats gave people booster vaccine shots for Christmas.
However, Santa Claus was not deterred from doing his rounds, after showing proof of vaccination and a pre-flight negative COVID-19 test, Ottawa’s transport minister said.
According to the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Santa-tracking Web site, Father Christmas delivered 7.6 billion gifts during his sleigh ride around the world this year.
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