Pope Francis urged those celebrating Christmas around the world to look for Jesus “in the faces of little children” suffering in war-torn and conflict-riven regions from the Middle East to Africa to the Korean Peninsula. The pontiff, praying for peace, told the faithful in his traditional Christmas message Monday that "the winds of war are blowing in our world and an outdated model of development continues to produce human, societal and environmental decline." Also in his message and blessing, the pontiff said children in Syria remain "marked by war" and the ongoing conflict in Yemen "has been largely forgotten." TEXT OF POPE FRANCIS’ TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS DAY MESSAGEHe offered a prayer that "confrontation may be overcome on the Korean Peninsula and that mutual trust may increase in the interest of the world as a whole." The pope concluded: “May we commit ourselves, with the help of his grace, to making our world more human and more worthy for the children of today and of the future.”The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Source: Fox News December 25, 2017 12:53 UTC