'Women and mothers are needed for world peace', Pope says on New Year

Pope Francis presided over a solemn Mass in honour of the 57th World Day of Peace on New Year's Day, during which the pontiff underscored the pivotal role women have played in salvation history and continue to hold in bringing peace to the world in the 21st century.

"The world, needs to look to mothers and to women in order to find peace, to emerge from the spiral of violence and hatred, and once more see things with genuinely human eyes and hearts. Every society needs to accept the gift that is woman, every woman: to respect, defend and esteem women, in the knowledge that whosoever harms a single woman profanes God, who was born of a woman," said the pontiff.

The Mass which took place at St. Peter's Basilica under the theme : "Artificial Intelligence and Peace" addressed a diverse congregation of seven thousand Catholics. The audience included cardinals, bishops, religious individuals, laypeople, and ambassadors from 184 countries with diplomatic ties to the Holy See.

"Our times, bereft of peace, need a Mother who can reunite the human family. Let us look to Mary, in order to become artisans of unity. Let us do so with her maternal creativity and concern for her children. For she unites them and consoles them; she listens to their troubles, and she dries their tears," added the Pope.

The Catholic liturgical year commences on January 1rst, with the faithful honouring the mother of Jesus Christ, and the traditional Angelus.