VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Wednesday urged “all people of all nations” to find courage during this Holy Year “to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions” plaguing the world, from the Middle East to Ukraine, from Africa to Asia.

The pontiff’s “Urbi et Orbi” — “To the City and the World” — address serves as a summary of the woes facing the world this year. As Christmas coincided with the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that he dedicated to hope, Francis called for broad reconciliation, “even (with) our enemies.”

“I invite every individual, and all people of all nations ... to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions,’’ the pope said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to throngs of people below.

The pope invoked the Holy Door of St. Peter’s, which he opened on Christmas Eve to launch the 2025 Jubilee, as representing God’s mercy, which he said tears down walls of division and dispels hatred.

He called for arms to be silenced in war-torn Ukraine and in the Middle East, singling out Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as Lebanon and Syria. Francis repeated his calls for the release of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

Pilgrims were lined up on Christmas Day to walk through the Holy Door at the entrance of St. Peter’s as the Jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome. Traversing the Holy Door is one way the faithful can obtain indulgences, or forgiveness for sins during a Jubilee, a once-every-quarter-century tradition that dates from 1300.