Christians all over the world Saturday gathered in their different churches to mark Christmas day, as world leaders rekindled hope among the people amid surging COVID-19.
December 25 is a day set aside to commemorate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth whose teachings formed the foundation of Christianity.
To commemorate the day, world leaders sent messages to their subjects to douse the growing COVID and other hardships.
Joe Biden
President Joe Biden paid a surprise Christmas Eve visit on Friday to a children’s hospital in Washington, where he offered holiday greetings to patients and their families and showed off a photo of the new first puppy, Commander.
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Biden accompanied first lady Jill Biden to Children’s National Hospital in Washington. The hospital visit is an annual holiday tradition for first ladies, but Biden’s visit marked the first by a sitting president.
Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari called on Nigerians to rekindle hope in the country, urging them to use the Christmas season to show love to one another.
In his Christmas message on Friday, Buhari said Nigerians should use the season to “encourage ourselves so that the machinations of the wicked ones in our midst will find no place to thrive”.
“It is in the midst of hardship that the true test of a nation emerges,” he added in the message.
“I urge Nigerians to invoke the indomitable spirit in us and see the present order of things as a phase that will also pass, just like other unsavory situations in the nation’s history.
“This government will not abandon the promises made to Nigerians for a better lease of life.”
While noting that the diversification drive of the government “is yielding fruits,” Buhari restated the resolve to do more.
“We shall continue to create opportunities for our teeming youths to ventilate their tremendous energy,” he said.
On the fight against insecurity, Buhari assured that with the renewed commitment of security agencies, Nigerians would soon witness an improvement.
“I am confident that with the renewed commitment and empowerment of our committed security personnel, all these issues which inflict pain and trauma on us will soon be history,” Buhari said as he called for “encouragement to our gallant security personnel fulfilling their oaths to keep us safe.”
At the Mass during the Night for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Pope Francis reflects on how God comes into the world in littleness, as a tiny infant, drawing near to us to touch our hearts.
Pope
The Pope celebrated the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with a smaller congregation on hand in respect for health-safety rules pointed out, too, how the “One who embraces the universe needs to be held in another’s arms,” how the creator of the sun needs to be warmed, and how “tenderness incarnate needs to be coddled.”
The Pope recalled that Jesus was born close to the poor and forgotten, and by doing so elevates the excluded by first revealing Himself to them, rather than to those who are important in the eyes of the world.
He recalled the dignity of all who work, especially in humble jobs, and the need for the dignity of every human person to be respected. So, the Pope said, we must work to ensure “no more deaths in the workplace!”
“Everything is unified when Jesus is at the centre: not our ideas about Jesus, but Jesus himself, the living One,” he said.
Boris Johnson
UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson Christmas message said the country has witnessed turbulent year for Covid-19.
Johnson used the opportunity to beg people to go and take COVID-19 vaccine which is in line with the Jesus Christ teaching.
“To collect the vaccine won’t be for only ourselves but for our friends and family and everyone whom we meet.
Udom Emmanuel
Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel said ‘’We are once again enveloped in a mood of festivities, heralding the birth of the Prince of Peace and the Saviour of mankind, our Lord Jesus Christ. This, therefore, is a season of peace, of goodwill, love and giving.
”This is a season where we should banish all ancient animosities and celebrate our oneness and unity, our development and the strides we are collectively making as a State and as a people.
It is a season of joy and thankfulness to God for holding us together as a people and as a State, in spite of the economic difficulties brought about by the Covid -19 pandemic, which unfortunately has now mutated to the Delta and Omicron variants respectively.
