MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Paolo Pezzi, the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Moscow, congratulated Russian Roman Catholics with Christmas and urged them to share peace and joy of this festival with others.

"We were given the world - the world of Christ, which we feel when we really await the coming of Christ in our daily life," Pezzi said during the Midnight Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Moscow.

"Jesus did not convey a new philosophy of life to us - he made Christianity the life. Christmas is the answer to all human questions, full of any possible desire of happiness, welfare, love, and eternity. Christmas is love, unconditional love of the Lord, who shares the human destiny," the Archbishop said.

Christianity is "neither an intellectual system, nor a set of dogmata, nor moralism" but it is "the meeting with Christ, the history of love, and the event," Pezzi noted. "We should not preserve Christmas for us - we are called to share this gift of peace and joy with other people," he added.

Roman Catholics of the world celebrate Christmas on Sunday - the festival to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. Further to the Roman Catholic Church, certain Protestant churches and Orthodox churches using the New Style Calendar also celebrate Christmas on December 25.

The Russian Orthodox Church will celebrate Christmas on January 7, 2023.