December 23rd, 2025

​Christmas Greeting to the Children of the World – A Call for Christmas Peace and Children’s Rights
Dear world leaders,
Dear Holy Father, Pope,
and all those who have the power to influence the lives of children,
Christmas is a celebration of children. It is a celebration of hope, safety, love, and the belief that tomorrow can be better than yesterday. The message of Christmas is simple, yet demanding: every child has the right to life, peace, and human dignity.
Yet even this Christmas, millions of children wake up without safety. Without a home. Without parents. Without school. Without peace. They live surrounded by war, violence, poverty, exploitation, and fear. They do not need beautiful speeches. They need action.

Christmas peace must not be only a tradition, a declaration, or a symbolic phrase. Christmas peace is an obligation. It is a moral responsibility that rests above all on you – the political and spiritual leaders of the world. On you, who have the power to stop weapons, open borders for humanitarian aid, protect children, and defend their human rights.
Holy Father, you often speak on behalf of the weakest. In these times, the world needs from you courageous and clear leadership for children. Not only prayers, but also demands. Demands for peace, justice, and accountability. Children’s dignity is not negotiable.
World leaders, your decisions determine whether a child lives or dies, learns or is silenced, plays or lives in fear. Every day without peace is a crime against childhood. Every delay sends a message that children’s suffering can wait. It cannot.

This Christmas, we demand more than words. We demand action. We demand that children’s human rights be placed at the highest priority – not tomorrow, not at the next meeting, but now. We demand that children be protected in wars. That abducted children be returned to their homes. That every child has the right to grow up without fear.

Christmas reminds us that even the smallest child can change the world. But the responsibility for changing the world does not belong to children. It belongs to adults. It belongs to you.

This Christmas, give children the most valuable gift of all: peace. Safety. A future.
The children of the world deserve more.
They deserve action.
They deserve Christmas Peace – every day.
Merry Christmas.
For the children.
For peace.
For human dignity.
Timo Virtanen
General Manager
World Children & Youth Physical Education Academy – (C.Y.P.E. Academy)
www.cype-academy.org

Timo Virtanen Mykolaiv city Ukraine 2025.