Archbishop of Canterbury highlights suffering in Israel-Gaza war in Christmas Day sermon

The Archbishop of Canterbury will say "so many parts of the world seem beset with violence"

The Archbishop of Canterbury has spoken about children caught up in the Israel-Gaza war in his Christmas Day sermon.

The Most Reverend Justin Welby said "this year, the skies of Bethlehem are full of fear rather than angels and glory" during a service at Canterbury Cathedral.

He also referred to conflict elsewhere including in Ukraine, saying "around the world, we are beset with violence".

And he talked about the "age-old sin" of antisemitism in the UK.

He compared the turbulent background of Jesus' upbringing with the struggles of children in the region today.

He said: "Today a crying child is in a manger somewhere in the world, nobody willing or able to help his parents, or her parents, who so desperately need shelter.

"Or perhaps lying in an incubator, in a hospital low on electricity, like the Anglican Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, surrounded by suffering and death.

"Or maybe the newborn lies in a house that still bears the marks of the horrors of 7 October, with family members killed, and a mother who counted her life as lost."

On 7 October, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which governs Gaza, led a massive attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 240 back to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a war against it in response, which has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Archbishop Welby also referred to antisemitism in the UK, saying: "Or maybe they are not a newborn, but someone thinking of next term, having again to hide their Jewishness on their way to school in this country.

Welby on Christmas Day

"Or a playgroup in our own cities, fearful of the age-old sin, the atrocious sin, of antisemitism".

The archbishop said "serving, not in being served" was the answer to resolving problems such as climate change, terrorism, economic inequality, antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism.

God "confronts our cruelty with his compassion" and "responds to our selfishness with service", Archbishop Welby said.

He referred to a visit to a US church which among other things took in guns from the streets, and said he himself was wearing a cross made out of a melted-down automatic rifle - "transformed into a sign of hope and life".

He also paid tribute to King Charles III, whose coronation he led in May 2023.

"Two thousand years later, in our culture, it seems natural and right for a king in royal robes to answer a child, 'I come not to be served, but to serve' - and we know that that is the right way to be a king."

Peace was also a strong theme for the leader of Catholicism in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who spoke about the "terrible war ravaging parts of the Holy Land" at Midnight Mass in Westminster Cathedral.

"The angels cry, they cry out for peace - and let our voices join with theirs in prayer for such peace; for a cessation of violence, for the relief of such suffering, and for the release of hostages," he said.

Pope Francis has also appealed for peace against the "futile logic of war" during Christmas Eve mass.

The Pope told worshippers at Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican: "Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world."

Pope Francis called for an end to the "clash of arms" in the Middle East