The same sources said that after the Christmas Season, the combats will undoubtedly resume. Many villages of the Tigrai conflict zone are deserted and parishes are closed. Displaced persons, including 18 priests and 6 nuns, have left and sought refuge in family homes or caves in the surrounding hills. The Holy Father sent the participants a message of encouragement through Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State, addressed to Abune Berhane-Yesus Demerew Souraphiel, Archbishop of Addis Ababa. The search continues in Caracas for people who have disappeared, and the state of Vargas has had to be militarized because of violent robberies that placed the Army on alert and resulted in arrests.
Many countries continue to send aid and volunteers specialized in required emergency work.
Diocesan Caritas, NGOs and Venezuelan embassies around the world are receiving material aid, and several bank accounts have been established to facilitate expressions of solidarity. The number of dead could rise to 50,000, and of homeless to 300,000. The Archbishop presided over a prayer service for the victims. Hundreds of people from the capital expressed their suffering to the popular and venerated image of the Nazarene of St. Paul. The Bethlehem Midnight Mass will be broadcast live via Internet this year, enabling persons unable to travel to the Holy Land to experience the celebration.