‘So many other footsteps are hidden in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary’

Pope Francis in Christmas Eve remarks Sunday likened the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem to the migrations of millions of people today who are forced to leave homelands for a better life, or just for survival, and he expressed hope that no one will feel “there is no room for them on this Earth.”

Pope Francis celebrated late evening Christmas Vigil Mass in the splendor of St Peter’s Basilica, telling the faithful that the “simple story” of Jesus’ birth in a manger changed “our history forever. Everything that night became a source of hope.”

Noting that Mary and Joseph arrived in a land “where there was no place for them,” Pope Francis drew parallels to contemporary time.