Pope: This Year, Christmas Is a 'Charade'

Christmas is approaching and it's time for weeping, according to Pope Francis, who has been paying far too much attention to world events to be in a festive mood. During a Mass last week, the pontiff described this year's holiday season as a "charade" taking place in a world full of conflict and hate, reports Yahoo News. "There will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even Nativity scenes—all decked out—while the world continues to wage war," he said. "It's all a charade. The world has not understood the way of peace. The whole world is at war."

"Those who make war are damned, they're delinquents," Francis continued, per the Telegraph, expressing his concern for the innocent victims of conflicts all over the world. "We should ask for the grace to weep for this world, which does not recognize the path to peace. To weep for those who live for war and have the cynicism to deny it. God weeps, Jesus weeps." (Earlier this year, Francis suggested that those who make weapons have no right to call themselves Christians.)