Pope urges 'tenderness' as millions celebrate Christmas

Pope Francis called for "tenderness" and "warmth" after a violence-plagued year as millions of Christians began marking Christmas.
      
The Argentine pontiff's brief homily was replete with Gospel references in his Christmas Eve mass, broadcast live in 3D for the first time.
      
"Do we have the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties and problems of those who are near to us?" the pope asked in Saint Peter's Basilica, filled with some 5,000 worshippers.
      
"Or do we prefer impersonal solutions, perhaps effective but devoid of the warmth of the Gospel? How much the world needs tenderness today!" he said.
      
The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics also called on "the arrogant, the proud... (and) those closed off to others" to meet life "with goodness, with meekness."       

On Thursday, in his second "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) message, the pope was expected to address the  plight of Christians and other religious minorities suffering persecution in the Middle East, notably at the hands of the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group.
      
He was also due to touch on the war in Syria, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, the Ebola epidemic, Islamic fundamentalist violence in northeastern Nigeria and the Ukraine conflict.
      
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was expected to pay tribute to the "selflessness" of medical staff and aid workers fighting the Ebola epidemic in her annual Christmas Day broadcast.
      
In Bethlehem on Christmas Eve hectic preparations preceded celebrations on the West Bank town's biggest night of the year, culminating in midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity built over the spot where Christians believe the...