Pope alludes to Church's failings in Christmas mass

Pope Francis also talked about the "crazy love" of Jesus. Photo: AP

Pope Francis has ushered in Christmas for more than a billion Catholics by celebrating midnight mass at the Vatican, calling on the faithful not to abandon God’s love because of the Church’s failings.



Speaking to thousands of pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis alluded to the clerical abuse and financial scandals afflicting the Church:



The Pope said the birth of Jesus was a reminder of God's unconditional love for everyone, “even the worst of us”.



"God does not love you because you think and act the right way," he said. "You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you."



At the same time though, he called for the faithful to allow themselves to be transformed by Jesus' "crazy love" and to stop trying to change others.



"May we not wait for our neighbours to be good before we do good to them, for the church to be perfect before we love her, for others to respect us before we serve them. Let us begin with ourselves," he said.



Pope Francis has frequently emphasised his call for "personal conversion" in his reform-minded papacy, believing that true reform cannot be imposed from on high, but discerned from within. He has similarly denounced the "holier-than-thou" attitude of doctrinal and legal purists, who have chafed at his progressive openings to gays, divorcees and people on the margins.



The Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of sexual abuse and financial scandals.



The scandals are likely to follow Francis into 2020, with developments in a corruption investigation involving hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to the Holy See and the release of a report on what the Vatican knew about ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked for sexually abusing adults and minors. (AP)