Croatia celebrates Christmas: Family, children and the right to life at center of homilies

Croatia celebrates Christmas today. On the most joyful Christian holiday, solemn masses were held in churches across our country. In the Zagreb Cathedral, Archbishop Kutleša spoke about our historical roots in the light of Christ, which was not a guarantee of an easy path, but was a guarantee of survival. He also reminded us that Europe grew from Christian roots, but today it often tries to live as if it can renounce them without consequences. Archbishops in other cities put family, children and the right to life at the center of their homilies. 

The celebration of the nativity of the Lord was awaited by believers in Zagreb in the reconstructed Cathedral which was reopened yesterday, five years after the earthquake. The reconstruction of the Cathedral is not only a construction activity, but also mutual responsibility, patience and perseverance, said Zagreb Archbishop Dražen Kutleša.

“The word that has settled among us, lives in every one of our today's; the belief which we witness simply and faithfully, in families that pray, in a society that protects the weak, in people for whom a clear conscience is a measure of action, and who are not ashamed of the gospels, even when it is not popular. Then the light shines today in the darkness of modern confusion,” said Archbishop Kutleša.

Split Makarska Archbishop, Zdenko Križić led Christmas mass at the Saint Domnius Cathedral in Split.

“Today, celebrating the birth of the divine child, we especially think about the human right to life. Many want to dispute this right, insisting that others can freely decide about that right, who could then legally strip some of that right. Nobody has that right. When a man takes the right to life in his own hands; the right to death of others, it always leads to a catastrophe,” said Archbishop Križić.

Đakovo Osijek Archbishop, Đuro Hranić placed children at the center of his homily as well as the sanctity and inviolability of life.

“We must never tire of seeking new ways of supporting of every woman and mother. The mystery of Christmas illuminates us so with a strong anthropological and humanist message on the sanctity and inviolability of human life as a gift of God,” said Archbishop Hranić.

“God created us all equal, and therefore no one should be more equal,” noted Rijeka Archbishop Mate Uzinić.

“In the social and political community there are divisions about who is more important and who is greater, who has better blood cells, who is left, who is right, who is red, blue or black, all so that some may be more equal than others,” said Archbishop Uzinić.

On Sunday in parishes throughout Croatia closing of the Jubilee year 2025 will be marked, this is a time in which Pope Francis called for pilgrimages to holy places and for declaration of jubilee forgiveness.

Source: HRT