At his first Christmas Mass Pope Leo XIV combined his own message with that of Pope Benedict XVI’s from 2012 to remind Catholics all over the world of the splendor of Christmas: “Behold the star that astonishes the world, a spark newly lit and blazing with life: “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Lk 2: 11). Into time and space — in our midst — comes the One without whom we would not exist. He who gives his life for us lives among us, illuminating the night with his light of salvation. There is no darkness that this star does not illumine, for by its light all humanity beholds the dawn of a new and eternal life.
Emmanuel Among Us
It is the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel. In the Son made man, God gives us nothing less than his very self, in order to “redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own” (Titus 2:14). Born in the night is the One who redeems us from the night. The hint of the dawning day is no longer to be sought in the distant reaches of the cosmos, but by bending low, in the stable nearby.
The clear sign given to a darkened world is indeed “a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). To find the Savior, one must not gaze upward, but look below: The omnipotence of God shines forth in the powerlessness of a newborn; the eloquence of the eternal Word resounds in an infant’s first cry; the holiness of the Spirit gleams in that small body, freshly washed and wrapped in swaddling clothes. The need for care and warmth becomes divine since the Son of the Father shares in history with all his brothers and sisters. The divine light radiating from this Child helps us to recognize humanity in every new life.
To heal our blindness, the Lord chooses to reveal himself in each human being, who reflect his true image, according to a plan of love begun at the creation of the world”.2
Pope Benedict once presented this idea: it is as if Christ was telling us, ‘If you are afraid of my majesty and glory, dare to receive me and embrace me as a child. I am your salvation’.
Illuminate
Dear brothers and sisters: Christmas is a time of hope and renewal. May Christ, the Light of the world, illumine our darkness so we can discover in ourselves and in every human being our dignity of sons and daughters of God created in His own image and likeness. May this Child shed His light on each one of us, as in the painting we see above.
Merry Christmas!
May the Lord bless you all,
Fr. Marcelo Javier Navarro Muñoz, IVE
Author: The Contribution of Cornelio Fabro to Fundamental Theology. Reason and Faith, Cambridge Scholars Publishing: https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-9315-2
Poesía Sacra, Quemar las Naves, and Desde Fossanova, IVE Press: https://ivepress.org/
2 See https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2025/documents/20251224-messa-notte-natale.html, accessed 26 December 2025.
