VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis celebrated a low-key Christmas Eve Mass made somber by the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday and said people should feel obliged to help the needy because Jesus himself was born a poor outcast.
The Mass was held in a rear section of St. Peter’s Basilica with fewer than 100 participants and only a small number of cardinals and bishops. It is usually held in the main section of the basilica and attended by up to 10,000 people, including the diplomatic corps representing nearly 200 countries.
Everyone except the pope and the small choir wore a mask during the Mass, which began two hours earlier than usual so that even the limited number of people who a…
Keep on reading: Pope urges help for poor at low-key Christmas Eve Mass curbed by COVID