Father Francisco offers his first Christmas homily

Gregorio Borgia / APFather Francisco kissing a statue of the child Jesus as the Christmas Eve mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, celebrates it on December 24.By Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC NewsThe faithful flocked to St. Peter's Basilica for midnight on the eve of the first Christmas dad Francisco mass, in which the Pontiff preached once again the importance of humility, and acceptance qualities has continuously demonstrated in its first nine months as head of the Catholic Church."The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light," Francis began, citing Isaiah prophesied a book of the Bible that includes heralding the birth of Jesus.Father Francisco offered a traditional lesson of light and love during his first Christmas Eve midnight mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Martin Fletcher, NBC reports.Jesus brought light and grace to the world, and that grace "possible salvation for the whole human race," said Francis, choosing to highlight a writing of the biblical Book of Titus.While Jesus embodied light and love, said Francis, who hate to walk in the "dark"."" If we love God and our brothers and sisters, walk in the light. ""But if our heart is closed, if we are dominated by pride, deceit, selfishness, then drops the darkness within us and our around, said the Pontiff.Francis, who celebrated the mass with more than 300 Cardinals, bishops and priests, urged the people not be afraid of approaching God - echoing the words of the biblical angel give news of the birth of Jesus."Do not fear! Our father is patient, loves us, gives us Jesus to guide us on the road that leads to the promised land. Jesus is the light that illuminates the darkness. "He is our peace, he said.Francis has tried to change the image of the Catholic Church as judgmental, pompous, inflexible institution since his election in March.Of homosexual priests, I have been asked, "who am I to judge?" It has washed the feet of the prisoners, they refused to move to the papal Palace and celebrated his recent breakfast birthday with three homeless men. On Monday, made a Christmas visit to the Emeritus Pope Benedicto XVI and asked him to pray for him."(It) is to bring a new era in the Church, a church that is more focused on the poor and that is more austere, more lively, a church that cares about everyone," said Dolores Di Benedetto, who traveled from the homeland of the Pope, Argentina to hear him speak."I thought it would be great to hear the words of this Pope close and see how people feel overwhelmed by it," said Giacchino Sabello, one of the more than 10,000 people who filled St. Peter's Basilica or outside watching the ceremony on mega-screens.At the Christmas Eve mass, Francis reiterated the importance of the oppressed, with the shepherds who were the first to learn about the birth of Jesus as an example. "They were the first because they were among the last, the marginalized," he said."Bless you, Lord God most high, who fell to yourself for our sake. You is immense, and did you small; You're rich and you did poor; you are Almighty and you made vulnerable,"said Francis in thanks to God and also a clear indication of humility encourages his flock to emulate.Ettore Ferrari / EPAFather Francisco leads the midnight Christmas mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on December 24.In his speech to the administrators of the Vatican on Saturday, Francis said Holiness was a practice of "deep humility and fraternal charity in our relationships with our coworkers," urged the Cardinals, bishops and priests to avoid gossip.Before the mass, Francis inspired more humility, when personally a baby Jesus doll on a replica of a manger, a custom usually performed by a support.The 2 1/2 hour mass was the first of many services Francis will lead during the holidays. On Christmas day, will deliver a "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message from the balcony of the Basilica overlooking the square St. Peter.He also held mass on new year's Eve and new year and another on 6 January for the feast of the Epiphany or "' day of Kings," celebrating the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus.Reuters contributed to this report.Related:

Christmas in the dark? Hundreds of thousands face holiday without power after ice storm

 over the weekend and ice storms ravaged parts of the Northeast, while record warm weather was reported along the east coast. NBC's Dylan Dreyer reports.By Alexander Smith and Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC NewsThousands of people faced the prospect of spending the holidays in the dark, after a huge ice storm knocked out power throughout the Midwest and New England.Almost 400,000 homes and businesses in Michigan, upstate New York and northern New England remained without electricity Monday morning after thick ice felled trees and brought down power lines, according to utilities companies.While lights came back on in upstate New York and Vermont, power companies in Michigan and Maine reported larger numbers of outages as the sun set on Monday.Brad Hoving, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, Mich. – the state with a bulk of the remaining power outages — said many people may still be using candlelight until Thursday."It's a big deal," Hoving told The Associated Press. "It's Christmas and we've just had a major ice storm."The Red Cross set up a shelter at Middleville, Mich., United Methodist Church, but Pastor Tony Shumaker said the crowd was getting too big and needed additional accommodations like showers, so they would be moving to a local school. Church members planned to cook a Christmas dinner and bring it to the school for people who were still without power on Wednesday, Shumaker said.Shumaker said regardless of the inconvenient timing of lost power, the people housed at the church “seem to be in pretty decent spirits, they’re glad to have a warm place to go to.”One of Michigan’s power providers, DTE, said crews were working “around the clock” and 90 percent of the 83,000 customers without electric would be restored by Christmas Eve.Stephanie Burnham, in Clarkston, Mich., was one of the luckier people who had their power restored."We had just finished making dinner and ... we cleaned everything up. Then our power went out, so we got all our candles and set up our generator," she told ClickOnDetroit.com."They told us it wouldn't be back until Christmas so we were like, 'Oh no all of our food!' But they did a great job."More than 1,000 utility workers from other companies and states headed to Michigan to help Consumers Energy customers out of the dark. Still, Consumers said more than 200,000 remained without power, and many areas in the southwest portion of Michigan would not have their electricity fully restored until after the holiday.“We might be spending Christmas at a middle school,” said Dawn Bishop, whose town of Dutton, Mich., lost power on Sunday. She said she was “a little nervous” about the possibility, but that she, her husband and her son — who is special needs — have been “taken care of very well” by the Red Cross. While Bishop’s Christmas plans remained uncertain, she stayed optimistic. “I’m sure we’ll be home by New Years,” she said.Michigan was hit with half an inch of ice over the weekend, said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “A quarter inch of ice is pretty damaging. When you talk about a half inch, that’ll take down trees and power lines,” Hurley said.By Monday morning, “you could skate down our road,” Bishop said.Heavy snowfall buried parts of the northern Midwest, with the heaviest covering coming in Larned, Kan., which saw over 15 inches. Mike Groll / APHeather Griffin, of Buffalo, N.Y., and her dog Sal walk beneath ice-covered trees on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013, in Buffalo. Snow and ice knocked out power in parts of Michigan, New England and upstate New York over the weekend. The storm also saw some 1,200 U.S. flights canceled over the weekend and delayed another 15,000, according to the aviation-tracking website FlightAware.Nine deaths across the U.S. were blamed on the storm, the AP reported, including five people killed in Kentucky floodwaters and a woman in Arkansas following a 130-mph tornado.In Canada, an additional five people were killed in weather-induced highway accidents. While crews restored power to almost 100,000 Canadian customers on Monday, over 200,000 in Toronto were still in the dark, according to Toronto Hydro electric company.Elsewhere, New York City and Philadelphia saw record high temperatures, with shoppers taking to the streets in shirtsleeves. Still, temperatures would drop to seasonable levels by Tuesday.  “The front which was responsible for all of the precipitation has cold air behind it,” Hurley said.Kevin Roth, lead meteorologist at The Weather Channel, said on Monday the worst of the storm was over, save for “one last gasp” to trouble commuters in the Northeast trying to see their friends and families before Christmas.AAA predicted that a record-breaking 94.5 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1."It will be a rough start to the week getting to grandma’s house," Roth told NBC News. "For anyone thinking of taking to the roads in the Northeast, based on the forecasts it would be better to leave it until Tuesday, when the weather is set to be a lot quieter."He said travel problems on Monday would be caused by a small amount of snowfall in northern Maine, around Caribou, as well as rain moving up from West Virginia to New England through the morning.Temperatures in Massachusetts are still right around freezing and the state could expect some freezing rain throughout the day.Other than that, Roth said, the weather would be quiet across the whole of the U.S. from Tuesday through the week.Hurley said last-minute travelers were fortunate that the extreme weather system made its way through the country over the weekend. “It’s going to be a pretty dry stretch here going into Christmas,” he said. On the downside, few would experience a white Christmas this year, Hurley said. The Associated Press contributed to this report.Related:This story was originally published on Mon Dec 23, 2013 4:37 PM EST

Thieves steal Christmas — and grandma's and grandpa's ashes

 By Adrian Arambulo and Samantha Tata, NBCLosAngeles.comA group of burglars used a doggie door to break into a Southern California family’s home, steal children’s piggy banks and presents from under the Christmas tree and make off with an ornate urn holding the ashes of their grandparents.The brazen theft happened the afternoon of Dec. 20 in the 900 block of North Madison Avenue, a quiet, tree-line street in Pasadena. Police in the city said they’ve seen thieves use doggie doors to break into homes before, but not recently.Once inside, the thieves ransacked Griffin Gmelich’s home.The thieves emptied stockings, ripped ornaments off the tree, and snatched jewelry and electronics. One was caught on camera hauling what appeared to be a flat-screen TV.“You could see the TV cords ripped out of the wall,” Gmelich said.His young children’s piggy banks were stolen and their presents were plucked right out from under the Christmas tree. But most painful, Gmelich said, is that the thieves took the urn holding his parent’s ashes.“They literally stole my mom and dad," he said.The thieves left behind footprints and fingerprints. A neighbor’s security camera captured images of the thieves. For two hours, they carried stolen items out of the home and into a getaway car. Detectives are searching for four burglars, possibly teens.The family said they wanted to share their story not for donations but to see justice served and warn others.Gmelich said the doggie door the thieves used to break into his home belongs to his 100-pound Guffman, who, despite what his size may suggest, is more of a lover than a fighter.“Once they got in, he probably befriended them because he's a friendly guy,” Gmelich said of his dog.Days before Christmas, the family is dealing with unwanted changes. They’re now installing an alarm system and Guffman’s doggie door is being sealed.But most heartwrenching, Gmelich said, is how his family’s peace of mind was stolen and his children’s holiday spirit dampened.“They don’t understand,” he said. “The spirit of Christmas? It’d odd to them now.”

Christmas in the dark? Storm brings ice and outages to Midwest, Northeast

 The Midwest was hammered by deadly storms and flooding over the weekend and ice storms ravaged parts of the Northeast, while record warm weather was reported along the east coast. NBC's Dylan Dreyer reports.By Alexander Smith and Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC NewsThousands of people faced the prospect of spending the holidays in the dark, after a huge ice storm knocked out power throughout the Midwest and New England.Almost 400,000 homes and businesses in Michigan, upstate New York and northern New England remained without electricity Monday morning after thick ice felled trees and brought down power lines, according to utilities companies.While lights came back on in upstate New York and Vermont, power companies in Michigan and Maine reported larger numbers of outages as the sun set on Monday.Brad Hoving, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, Mich. – the state with a bulk of the remaining power outages — said many people may still be using candlelight until Thursday."It's a big deal," Hoving told The Associated Press. "It's Christmas and we've just had a major ice storm."The Red Cross set up a shelter at Middleville, Mich., United Methodist Church, but Pastor Tony Shumaker said the crowd was getting too big and needed additional accommodations like showers, so they would be moving to a local school. Church members planned to cook a Christmas dinner and bring it to the school for people who were still without power on Wednesday, Shumaker said.Shumaker said regardless of the inconvenient timing of lost power, the people housed at the church “seem to be in pretty decent spirits, they’re glad to have a warm place to go to.”One of Michigan’s power providers, DTE, said crews were working “around the clock” and 90 percent of the 83,000 customers without electric would be restored by Christmas Eve.Stephanie Burnham, in Clarkston, Mich., was one of the luckier people who had their power restored."We had just finished making dinner and ... we cleaned everything up. Then our power went out, so we got all our candles and set up our generator," she told ClickOnDetroit.com."They told us it wouldn't be back until Christmas so we were like, 'Oh no all of our food!' But they did a great job."More than 1,000 utility workers from other companies and states headed to Michigan to help Consumers Energy customers out of the dark. Still, Consumers said more than 200,000 remained without power, and many areas in the southwest portion of Michigan would not have their electricity fully restored until after the holiday.“We might be spending Christmas at a middle school,” said Dawn Bishop, whose town of Dutton, Mich., lost power on Sunday. She said she was “a little nervous” about the possibility, but that she, her husband and her son — who is special needs — have been “taken care of very well” by the Red Cross. While Bishop’s Christmas plans remained uncertain, she stayed optimistic. “I’m sure we’ll be home by New Years,” she said.Michigan was hit with half an inch of ice over the weekend, said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “A quarter inch of ice is pretty damaging. When you talk about a half inch, that’ll take down trees and power lines,” Hurley said.By Monday morning, “you could skate down our road,” Bishop said.Heavy snowfall buried parts of the northern Midwest, with the heaviest covering coming in Larned, Kan., which saw over 15 inches. Mike Groll / APHeather Griffin, of Buffalo, N.Y., and her dog Sal walk beneath ice-covered trees on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013, in Buffalo. Snow and ice knocked out power in parts of Michigan, New England and upstate New York over the weekend. The storm also saw some 1,200 U.S. flights canceled over the weekend and delayed another 15,000, according to the aviation-tracking website FlightAware.Nine deaths across the U.S. were blamed on the storm, the AP reported, including five people killed in Kentucky floodwaters and a woman in Arkansas following a 130-mph tornado.In Canada, an additional five people were killed in weather-induced highway accidents. While crews restored power to almost 100,000 Canadian customers on Monday, over 200,000 in Toronto were still in the dark, according to Toronto Hydro electric company.Elsewhere, New York City and Philadelphia saw record high temperatures, with shoppers taking to the streets in shirtsleeves. Still, temperatures would drop to seasonable levels by Tuesday.  “The front which was responsible for all of the precipitation has cold air behind it,” Hurley said.Kevin Roth, lead meteorologist at The Weather Channel, said on Monday the worst of the storm was over, save for “one last gasp” to trouble commuters in the Northeast trying to see their friends and families before Christmas.AAA predicted that a record-breaking 94.5 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1."It will be a rough start to the week getting to grandma’s house," Roth told NBC News. "For anyone thinking of taking to the roads in the Northeast, based on the forecasts it would be better to leave it until Tuesday, when the weather is set to be a lot quieter."He said travel problems on Monday would be caused by a small amount of snowfall in northern Maine, around Caribou, as well as rain moving up from West Virginia to New England through the morning.Temperatures in Massachusetts are still right around freezing and the state could expect some freezing rain throughout the day.Other than that, Roth said, the weather would be quiet across the whole of the U.S. from Tuesday through the week.Hurley said last-minute travelers were fortunate that the extreme weather system made its way through the country over the weekend. “It’s going to be a pretty dry stretch here going into Christmas,” he said. On the downside, few would experience a white Christmas this year, Hurley said. The Associated Press contributed to this report.Related:This story was originally published on Mon Dec 23, 2013 4:37 PM EST