Manila cardinal: ‘Worship’ of wealth, power empties Christmas meaning

December 25, 2025 – 3:15 PM

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Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila warned Christmas celebrations risk becoming “shallow and empty” if society replaces humility with pursuits of wealth and power.

In a Christmas message, he said imitating King Herod, a biblical figure linked to fear and violence, shows lost humility and readiness to worship power.

“If obsession with wealth and intoxication with power rule our society, how can we ever set right our distorted systems and the unceasing abuse of the public trust?” Advincula said.

Preaching on the Nativity, he highlighted an overlooked ritual at Christmas Mass: kneeling at the words “He was made flesh” in the Profession of Faith.

The gesture, the cardinal stressed, is not merely ceremonial but a call to humility, gratitude and conversion.

“All too often, we fail to give due weight to this seemingly ordinary gesture,” Advincula said, urging the faithful to reclaim its deeper meaning as an act of opening oneself to God and making room for Christ in daily life.

As Christians mark Jesus’ birth, he urged them to walk away from darkness and sin and resist forces that destroy the future, citing injustices and abuses.