Archbishop Tony’s Christmas message 2025

The Homeless Christ at Christmas

The Christmas story tells of the Christ child who began his life as a homeless infant born in a borrowed stable because there was no room. Soon after he became a refugee carried by his parents across borders to escape the impending violence of a political persecution. The Christmas story is, on the human level, the story of a family on the margins.

It is tempting to wrap this narrative in tinsel and sentimentality, but its truth remains stark: the first Christmas tells of a family which was displaced, vulnerable, and unsure of tomorrow. And it is a story that speaks to us today.

Here in our own city, many people have no secure place to lay their head. Families search for housing that never seems to appear. Young people couch-surf. Others, newly arrived in Australia, carry the traumas of war and displacement while trying to build a future from nothing.

Christmas invites us to look again. The Christ child is seen wherever the vulnerable struggle to find safety. His story urges us to notice, to welcome, and to act.

If Christmas means anything in our times, it is this: no one should be left without a place to lay their head, without dignity, or without hope. The stable in Bethlehem calls us to make room – in our hearts, our policies, and our city.

Most Rev. Anthony J. Ireland