this is deja news live from berlin pope francis. will be addressed stevan to office his annual christmas blessing to the city and the world from growth as he appeals for peace around the globe also coming up. a wildfire destroys dozens of homes in chile all forty's evacuated thousands from the city of dallas but useful as the blaze spreads to residential areas. and romania marks a grisly anniversary 3 decades ago to its last communist exchange that made peace

and bringing the country's plenty revolution to a close. hello i'm christie $1.00 welcome to the program. but francis has been giving the christmas beatrice and his blessing to the catholic faithful from st peter's square in broome but. it's. suppose it's 90 minutes. francis spoke about migrants and those who've endured what he caught and speakable forms of abuse he will not ruin the pontiff also board for an end to the social unrest in venezuela

and appealed for peace in syria is to make christ bring his light to the many children suffering from war and conflicts in the middle east and in various countries of the world. see him bring comfort to the beloved syrian people who still see no end to the hostilities that have rent their country over the last decade. now let's bring in journalist david wiley who's in rome he's been following the vatican for years good to have you david what you may call for france's message this year. well i think pope francis is trying he has a very ambitious program he's working he's celebrated his 82nd birthday recently he's aware of his increasing age and he can't expect many years to come of his previous 8 he's preparing his for his shooting and i think

that he is trying as desperately as he can change the mindset of the people who run the church his direction and i thought it was very thing that he quoted a former cardinal who's now wrong cardinal martini of new york who said just before he died that the church the catholic church was 200 years behind the times when other words pope francis not afraid of of criticizing the people who helped him during the church were or the minds of the current conservative and interesting on that point david if you'll allow me one of the things that he said in the midnight mass just to the point about the criticism that he's willing to to give the church he talks about the church not being perfect and say to people don't wait for the church to be perfect what does that tell us about the year that the church has had in 21000 how difficult has it been for the catholic church this year. it's been

a very bad year in many ways we've had the pope's former top economic advisor the australian cardinal pale sentients to prison in australia for clerical sex abuse on clerical simpson's charges it's become apparent that the problem of pedophile priests reach the batek and has tended in recent years to brush off as an american problem it's a worldwide problem we've had reports of kerry call sexual abuse from all over the world including for example just had we're not tiny catholic population but even there there have been cases of priests being charged through sexual abuse so it is a very serious problem that the church faces in continuing its credibility out of and say all right that is the gen the state of hawaii in rome for us thank you david now here in germany president from my is giving his annual

christmas day address later today he's appealing to germans to overcome they have differences and respect each other as equals is also set to discuss the high points off again most notably the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall the low points include an anti-semitic attack in october at a synagogue in the eastern city of. looking back on the events of the past year the german president says the anti-semitic attack at a synagogue in hala left a deep imprint the buildings locked or prevented even greater tragedy this month. bears the traces of some 20 bullets you see the splintered wood and the metal remains in the bullet holes of. this door guards at the entrance to the synagogue in harlem. it's a miracle that it held and that no more people fell victim to this brutal anti semitic attack in which 2 of our fellow citizens were murdered by the.

president steinmeyer visited the location of the anti semitic attack as soon as he could this christmas he asked germans to fight hatred and defend democracy well. democracy needs self assured citizens who have confidence and dry common sense and decency and who show solidarity with others. hopes the germans can continue to find courage and optimism in the coming year so they can find the strength to create a better future. ok for more on this i'm joined by data political correspondent kate brady kate president say it off the events that took place in $21000.00 he reflects mostly on the attack in the city of what does that tell us and i think it really underlines the importance of this issue right now in germany of course the number of reports of anti-semitic crimes has been slowly creeping up in recent

years and of course the events in hollerin october which you mentioned really did shape german society and of course under semitism is an issue that germany is still trying to address and has been trying to address for decades now and of course whenever crimes like this happen anywhere in the world people react with a reaction of horror but of course in germany there is that added gravitas weight particular when it comes to you and his magic crimes given germany's history but it was interesting too that he reflected on the door that that prevented that white supremacist from entering the synagogue and saying that this was symbolic as well of germans and he was asking germans or he will later today as germans in his speech whether they too are strong enough to stand up to that kind of hate yeah ok so that's a big part of what he'll say in this address but what else would he talk about well one of the other big issues that he addresses is a democracy and he calls on germans to to not take democracy for granted of course

this year and 21000 we celebrated here in germany 30 years since the fall of the berlin wall which was very much brought down by a democratic commitment was started in eastern germany and of course the danger in a 30 years on wednesday and a huge democratic shift and we saw that as well in some of the states elections in germany particularly eastern germany at the back end of the shia where the f.d.a. the far f.d.a. did particularly well in polls and so what we also heard from steinmeyer is that he is calling on germans to yes embrace democratic change and if you are not satisfied with the current. and proceedings of things then yes we can change it but that doesn't necessarily mean that we have to feed into this the hate and particularly the far right populism that we've seen growing in recent years ok kate thank you that's political correspondent kate brady and you can watch president imus christmas address in full later today on. now to some of the other stories making

news around the world long lines have formed at the syrian turkish border as tens of thousands flee in the wake of russian airstrikes government forces backed by moscow have stepped up their assault on it in a province in recent weeks despite a cease fire agreement and calls for deescalation in hong kong demonstrators are continuing a standoff with police following christmas eve protests riot police fired tear gas in a major shopping district activist streets and smashed shop windows anti-government protests in hong kong and now in the a 7th month. now over $100.00 families have been left homeless in the central philippines off to typhoon bested the islands with heavy rains and destructive winds thousands more have been forced to evacuate their homes spending christmas day in shell says. and in southern india thousands of people in bangalore have held

a candlelight vigil vigils made to protest a controversial citizenship nor the legislation speeds of indian citizenship for people from several asian countries and less their muslim india's government rejects accusations that the law is discriminatory. a wildfire in the chilean city of valparaiso has damaged or destroyed more than a 100 homes several districts in the western part of the city had to be evacuated it's not known what craig of the blaze but high temperatures and strong winds helped spread the flames. fleeing the flames with pets. and household possessions. the fire started in the woody hilly area on valspar esau's outskirts and quickly spread. it consumed dozens of homes in its path. and a huge hole of thick black smoke rose above the city. as the flames

crept closer residents tried in vain to stop them advancing. noise i feel powerless because all the houses are burning and now the fire is coming here extra firefighting reinforcements had to be called in to help local residents joined in the effort to douse the flames as well as move any timber and wooden walling that might turn out of the way. wildfires are not unusual in chile this year's very warm weather helped the flames to spread but this was fire came as about power you so celebrated christmas eve and also as chile is steeped in political crisis after months of county government protests. that he is a good today romania's revolution true to a close with the execution off to face and make a lie school it was the final and bloodiest chapter in the series of $989.00

uprisings that toppled communism in europe then void that is a retired military prosecutor who played a role in ending the tyranny and he shares his perspective on that tumultuous time . when the revolution broke out in december 1909 danville was in the thick of it at this barracks in tega vish to remain years hated dictator nicolae ceausescu and his wife elena were on trial voting a young prosecutor at the time cross-examined the couple. the. ceausescu was a dictator if you consider all the atrocities he committed only one charge was possible crimes against humanity and there's only one punishment for that. was the chair were executed immediately after the trial they had no

chance to appeal it had little to do with the rule of law but after the short trial broadcast life the shooting in the streets stopped the death toll in romania had already reached 1000 prosecutor done valena insists the summary execution was justified he points out the bullet holes where the cheshire screws was shot against the wall but 30 years on he's still waiting for a truly fresh start for remaining. genever it's time the new generation followed their feelings began to build the rule of law that young people back then gave their lives for. but throughout a social. danville an often visits the cemetery where the revolution's victims are buried most of them were under 30 teenagers students and workers many of the perpetrators have yet to be identified the group approaches to this day for

all these young people who were murdered in december 1909 there is still no justice the wounds left by remaining as communist era and the bloody revolution that ended it 30 years ago a still gaping wide. now people around the bold have been celebrating christmas in many ways some of them unusual in the u.s. state of florida some 600 surfing santas took to the waves in cocoa beach to show off their skills the charity event raised $40000.00 for some nonprofit organizations and a children's hospital and a reminder of the top story we're following for you pope francis has been giving he's nearly be it all the christmas day basing from the balcony of st peter's basilica thousands have come to rome to see the pontiff on the christmas day christians around the world sin of rage the birth of jesus. you're watching the

dummy news live from berlin we'll have more news at the top of the next hour with stephen the it's the is up next with business asia see you next hour. 50 years of religions for peace. many different things working together toward a common goal.