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Added on the 22/02/2019 11:16:34 - Copyright : France 24 EN
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives at the Vatican to meet Pope Francis, who on Saturday said he was suffering from bronchitis. IMAGES
Images show Pope Francis stepping onto the balcony of St.Peter's Basilica at the Vatican to deliver his annual Christmas Day "Urbi and Orbi" mass. During his speech, he called for an end to "to every war, to the very mindset of war, an aimless voyage, a defeat without victors, an inexcusable folly". IMAGES
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says, following a Security Council vote demanding aid deliveries at scale, that Israel's offensive is the "real problem... creating massive obstacles" to humanitarian shipments. SOUNDBITE
Recently recovered from a bout of ill-health, Pope Francis marks the feast of the Immaculate Conception with a ceremony on the Piazza di Spagna in central Rome, where he is greeted by a substantial crowd of well-wishers and worshippers. The 86-year-old Argentine pontiff offers a prayer to the Virgin Mary in front of the statue of the Mother of God near the Spanish Steps, an annual tradition on what is a bank holiday in largely Catholic Italy. IMAGES
The Vatican puts up a 27-metre-high silver fir tree in the centre of St Peter's Square. The tree, which weighs 6.5 tonnes, comes from a forest in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. IMAGES
Pope Francis meets with the relatives of people held hostage by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners. Israel and Hamas have announced a deal on allowing at least 50 hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed while offering besieged Gaza residents a four-day truce after weeks of all-out war. IMAGES