Francis celebrated Mass for Rome’s Congolese Catholic Community on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the city’s Congolese Catholic Chaplaincy. He lamented that fighting is taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo, “fuelled also by the outside, amid the silence of many, fighting fuelled by those who enrich themselves by selling weapons.”

Francis expressed his "concern" for the situation in Iraq. "I learnt with sorrow,” he explained, “that the protests in recent days were met with a harsh reaction, which has caused dozens of victims.” Today, he noted, “the first Sunday of Advent, a new liturgical year begins. In the four weeks of Advent, the liturgy prepares us to celebrate the Christmas of Jesus, as it reminds us that He comes every day into our lives, and will return gloriously at the end of time. Such certainty leads us to look to the future with confidence.”

Francis releases letter on the nativity scene, a tradition which he would like to see revived where it might have fallen into disuse. The crèche “helps us to imagine the scene. It touches our hearts and makes us enter into salvation history as contemporaries of an event that is living and real in a broad gamut of historical and cultural contexts.” Plus, “With the simplicity of that sign, Saint Francis carried out a great work of evangelization. His teaching touched the hearts of Christians and continues today to offer a simple yet authentic means of portraying the beauty of our faith.”