Let us allow ourselves to be evangelized "by the humility of the Child Jesus", of the poverty and essentiality "in which the Son of God entered the world", aware that "without humility one cannot meet God", and "not even one's neighbour, one's brother and sister who live next door." Humility, which is "the great condition of faith, of spiritual life, of holiness" is the "ability to know how to live" "with realism, joy and hope, our humanity" loved and blessed by the Lord. It is understanding that we must not be ashamed of our fragility. Only humility, finally, puts the Church in the right condition to face the synodal path "which will see us busy for the next two years", and allows the Roman Curia to bear witness to a Church "that listens to the Spirit and places its center outside itself."

Today humility is often relegated to moralism, and loses its strength

This is the heart of Pope Francis' message to his collaborators in the Roman Curia, who met this morning in the Blessing Hall for the traditional exchange of Christmas greetings. Which is always a way of saying "our brotherhood" but also "a moment of reflection and verification for each of us". “The mystery of Christmas” begins the Pope is that of God “who comes into the world through the path of humility” in a time that “seems to have forgotten humility, or seems to have simply relegated it to a form of moralism, emptying it of the explosive strength it possesses." But the word humility. For Francis, it is the one that can really help "express the whole mystery of Christmas". The Gospels "tell us about a poor, sober scenario, not suitable for welcoming a woman who is about to give birth".

Yet the King of kings comes into the world not by attracting attention, but by arousing a mysterious attraction in the hearts of those who feel the disruptive presence of something new that is about to change history. This is why I like to think and also say that humility was his entrance door and he invites us to cross it.

And he adds "off the cuff" a reference to the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, recalling that "we cannot move forward without humility", and we cannot move forward in humility without humiliation, which Ignatius invites us to ask for.