Germany's former Protestant pastor, turned head of state, said many people yearned for the Nativity message of peace as symbolized by the Christ child in the crib because worldwide "in reality so much discord, so much warfare, prevails."
President Gauck's televised address, his first since assuming office in March and released on Monday initially as text, is to be broadcast nationwide on the evening of Christmas Day, Tuesday.
Christmas, he said, was equally important for Muslims, Jews, and people of other faiths as well as atheists because for them too it was a festival of contemplation and charity.
Germany, said Gauck, offered asylum to persecuted foreigners with an "open heart," although it would never be able to take in all those who wanted to come.
Read more: Gauck: Christmas heals world's ills and worries | News | DW.DE | 24.12.2012
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