The traditional midnight mass in the Zagreb Cathedral was led by the Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić.
He stated that Christmas is certainly an emotional event, but if it does not change us deeply and if it does not encourage us to freely accept the Bethlehem child, then this holiday is reduced to mere sentimentality.
He conveyed to the faithful that the gift we receive on Christmas Eve while celebrating the Eucharist demands responsibility from each of us towards our loved ones, friends, neighbors who surround us, colleagues at work or study, and especially towards those who are most in need and those who suffer. There are tasks in which we need to participate personally and as protagonists. In these personal, as well as communal tasks, we are increasingly challenged by the sensitive historical context in which we are given to live. The radical changes occurring in the affective, but no less in the cultural, social, political, and economic fields, impose the need that, in reverence before God, we take a sober and just stance every day on various issues concerning our lives, said the cardinal.
