“Sadly, even on Christmas Day the world has not been spared the horrors of cowardly terrorist attacks.
I condemn in the strongest possible terms the appalling bombings of Christmas services in Madalla and Jos in Nigeria as well as the suicide attack on people attending a funeral near Taloqan in Afghanistan.
My thoughts and sympathy are with those who have lost loved ones. To the many injured I wish a speedy recovery.
Also over the days and the year ahead we are called upon to work with friends, partners and like minded people everywhere to combat with the utmost vigour the scourge of terrorism, violence and oppression – in Afghanistan and Nigeria just as in Syria, Belarus or elsewhere in the world.
Tolerance towards those of other faiths and beliefs, a readiness to resolve conflicts by peaceful means: these things are not only a message conveyed by the Christian Christmas as well as other world religions. They can also be – for that is indeed the lesson of over sixty years of recent European history – the key to the peace, freedom and prosperity of entire regions.”