Pope Leo, on Christmas Eve, says denying help to poor is rejecting God

December 25, 2025 – 9:21 AM

Pope Leo XIV looks on as he celebrates Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, December 24, 2025. (Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane)

How logistics industry experts plan to ‘move forward’ after COVID-19

Reasons why Filipinos love Korean culture and products

Why Batangas is the destination for budget-friendly family holidays

Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor and strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself.

“On earth, there is no room for God if there is no room for the human person. To refuse one is to refuse the other,” said the pope during the solemn service, attended by about 6,000 inside the basilica.

“Where there is room for the human person, there is room for God,” he said. “Even a stable can become more sacred than a temple.”

Outside the basilica, about 5,000 people watched the service on screens from St. Peter’s Square, holding umbrellas and wearing ponchos under a hard rain in Rome.

Leo, 70, came outside to greet them before the start of the Mass. “I admire and respect and thank you for your courage and your wanting to be here this evening,” he said, “even in this weather.”

—Reporting by Joshua McElwee in Vatican City; Editing by Matthew Lewis