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One World with Zain Asher
Pope Leo Denounces Conditions in Gaza at His First Christmas Mass; King's Annual Speech Reflects on Theme of Pilgrimage; Trump Spens holiday At His Florida Resort, Attends Dinner; Bethlehem Holds First Festivities Since Israel-Hamas War. Aired 11a-11:30p ET
Aired December 25, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
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BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga. This is a special edition of "One World". Merry
Christmas to all of you. Well, Christian faithful are celebrating Christmas across the world today. At the Vatican, Pope Leo saluted the faithful at
St. Peter's Square.
He then celebrated his first Christmas Mass seven months after he was chosen to lead the world's Catholics. During the mass, he called for
harmony and peace and denounced the suffering of the people in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE LEO, HEAD OF CATHOLIC CHURCH: How then can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold. Of those so many others,
refugees and displaced persons on every continent, or of the makeshift shelters of thousands of homeless people in our own cities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: CNN's Christopher Lamb has more on the Pontiff's Christmas celebrations.
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, despite the cold and the rain, thousands gathered in St. Peter's for the first Christmas celebrated
by Pope Leo since his election. Leo was out in the popemobile on Christmas Day and on Christmas Eve before the midnight mass came out to the square to
greet the thousands gathered under umbrellas to follow the mass from outside.
He said he admired them for their courage in coming out to be part of the celebrations. Now, Leo, in his messages, has emphasized that Christmas is
about peace. He specifically called for peace and for concern and solidarity with people in Gaza. And he made that call during the homily
that he gave on Christmas Day morning from St. Peter's Basilica.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE LEO, HEAD OF CATHOLIC CHURCH: How then can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold, of those so many others,
refugees and displaced persons on every continent, or of the makeshift shelters of thousands of homeless people in our own cities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAMB: Leo came out onto the balcony of St. Peter's, where he greeted people in different languages, wishing them a happy Christmas. He spoke in Arabic,
in Chinese and polish, showing his linguistic skills. Leo in his Christmas message, calling for the guns to fall silent in Ukraine.
Before Christmas, he said he hoped that there could be a ceasefire in Ukraine, just for Christmas Day for 24 hours. He also talked about
different conflicts taking place around the world, trying to bring the Christmas message to the here and now in what he was saying.
Leo, seeming in festive spirit, seeming happy to be marking the first Christmas since his election. Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.
GOLODRYGA: Well, Britain's Royal Family has attended the annual Christmas church service in Sandringham. The king and queen were joined by the Prince
and Princess of Wales, as well as their children. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were also in attendance.
That's being seen as a show of support from the king in spite of the scandal surrounding their father, Andrew. And in the past hour, King
Charles broadcast his annual Christmas message in a pre-recorded statement from Westminster Abbey, the king reflected on the theme of journeys and
pilgrimage as he looked back on 2025.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING CHARLES, UNITED KINGDOM: A few weeks ago, the queen and I were delighted to make a state visit to the Vatican, where we prayed with Pope
Leo in a historic moment of spiritual unity. Together, we celebrated the jubilee theme pilgrims of hope. Pilgrimage is a word less used today, but
it has particular significance for our modern world, and especially at Christmas.
It is about journeying forward into the future, while also journeying back to remember the past and learn from its lessons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: British TV viewers saw a special musical moment at the beginning of the annual Christmas carol service, which aired last night. A video was
shown of Catherine, Princess of Wales, and her daughter Charlotte, playing a festive piano duet.
[11:05:00]
The Carol service, hosted by Catherine, was filmed at Westminster Abbey in London earlier this month, with about 1600 people in attendance. A
selection of British artists saying and speakers, including Prince William, actors Kate Winslet and Chiwetel Ejiofor that is also Zain Asher's brother,
delivered poignant readings, all tied to the theme of love, compassion and connection.
Well, U.S. President Donald Trump is spending the Christmas holiday at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida. On Wednesday, he and his first -- and the
first lady took part in a long-standing holiday tradition as they fielded calls from excited children across the country who were eagerly awaiting
Santa's arrival.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We track Santa all over the world. We want to make sure that Santa is being good. Santa is a
very good person. We want to make sure that he's not infiltrated, that we're not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa.
So, we found out that Santa is good. Santa loves you. What would you like Santa to bring? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not coal.
TRUMP: Not coal. No, you don't want, well, coal is -- you mean clean, beautiful coal. I had to do that. I'm sorry.
END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Oh boy. Well, following those calls, President Trump and the first lady went on to attend a Christmas Eve dinner at Mar-a-Lago. And in
Bethlehem, in the West Bank, the biblical birthplace of Jesus, Christian worshipers attended Christmas mass at the Church of the Nativity.
These are Bethlehem's first festivities since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, made possible by the ceasefire that is largely holding. Christmas Mass
was led by the Latin patriot of Jerusalem. Now, despite the celebrations, the number of people attending is still limited.
With one Palestinian politician expressing concerns to CNN about Israeli military checkpoints blocking roads. And Christmas celebrations are low key
this year at Australia's Bondi Beach. In the wake of the December 14th mass shooting that targeted Jews. 15 people were killed on the first night of
Hanukkah.
Police patrolled Bondi Beach in Sydney as hundreds gathered some in Santa hats for their traditions this year, while also remembering the victims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CONROY, BRITISH TOURIST: I think it's tragic, and I think everybody respects and is very sad for what happened. And I think people here are out
on the beach because it's like a celebration, but everybody has got it in the memories, and everybody is respectful of what happened, and everybody,
and I mean, everyone is feeling for the family and friends who are going through the worst possible thing you could imagine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: The attack prompted stricter public meeting rules in Sydney that were passed on Wednesday. For Ukrainians, the Christmas holidays provide no
respect for more. Here you see people displaced from their homes celebrating in a shelter. In his Christmas message, Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the pain his country is feeling and said that Russians are fighting and Ukrainians are fighting and praying for
peace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: On Christmas Eve, the Russians, once again, showed us who they really are, massive shelling, hundreds of
Shahed drones, ballistic missiles, Kinzhal missiles, everything was used. This is how godless people strike.
This is what those who have absolutely nothing in common with Christianity or with anything human do. But we are holding on. We support one another,
and today, we pray for everyone on the front line to return alive, for everyone in captivity to return home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: That message coming as Zelenskyy appears willing to make a compromise in the negotiations. Earlier this week, he told reporters that
he's ready to pull troops out of certain areas of the Donetsk region if Russia also agrees to pull its forces back in order to establish a
demilitarized zone.
Ukraine is also demanding security guarantees, similar to NATO's Article V. The Kremlin has remained tight lipped about its position on the 20-point
plan, only saying that it is analyzing the latest documents. Nada Bashir is live in London with the very latest.
And nada, we continue to hear more concessions from President Zelenskyy, first foregoing, at least for the short-term aspirations to join NATO if a
deal can be agreed upon, and now some territorial concessions if the Russians will agree to something similar. We haven't heard much from the
Kremlin yet. What more are you hearing from your reporting, Nada?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there seems to be certainly some positive indications when it comes to the path forward in this 20-point
peace plan.
[11:10:00]
As you mentioned, no word yet from the Kremlin with regards to their formal response, it is understood that those updates are still under
consideration. Important to note, of course, that this follows a round of talks that were held in Miami led by U.S. officials, including U.S. Special
Envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, meeting separately with both a Ukrainian delegation and a Russian delegation to try to move forward with
that peace plan.
Of course, this acknowledgement by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the potential for concessions when it comes to territory is a
significant shift. The Russian President Vladimir Putin has long pushed for Ukraine to almost entirely cede control of the Donetsk region.
And now we are hearing from the Ukrainian President this potential for ceding control over key cities, including Sloviansk and including
Kramatorsk. These are understood to be fortified cities, essentially blocking the way and preventing Russian Armed Forces from advancing deeper
into the heart of Ukraine.
So, this would be a significant concession. But of course, this doesn't come without any demands on Russia, either. We are hearing, of course, from
the Ukrainian President, that Russia would also be expected to cede territory a number of Ukrainian cities, said to be an equivalent amount of
the territory that has been ceded by Ukraine if this agreement were to go forward.
And of course, this is a significant concession on Ukraine's part, but it does come as part of that broader 20-point peace plan, which does call for
a complete and total ceasefire, for a non-aggression agreement between Ukraine and Russia, and for an acknowledgement of Ukraine's sovereignty.
As well as, of course, guarantees from international partners, including the U.S., including Europe and including NATO allies, that they would
continue to support Ukraine, both in terms of its security guarantees, but also in terms of economic restructuring and recovery in any sort of post
war situation.
So of course, still a lot to go through. This is a wide ranging, broad ranging peace plan that is still being looked at and discussed by all
parties to this agreement. And as you mentioned, no word yet from Moscow. But what we have seen just in the last few days is a continuation of
Russia's bombardment of Ukraine, as described by the Ukrainian President, as a large-scale attack, both from drones and missile attacks taking place
in the days leading up to Christmas, on Christmas Eve.
And now, even today, on Christmas Day, we have seen yet another attack targeting a market in the Kherson region. At least one person is said to
have been killed, according to a regional military official. And as you can imagine, for many in Ukraine, this is yet another year of celebrating
Christmas, many away from their families, many, of course, on the front line as well, Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: Nada Bashir, thank you so much. Well, wounded Ukrainian veterans are finding comfort from man's best friend. It's a familiar story of
courage, as our Ryan Young explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Lavr, a Ukrainian therapy dog tasked with helping war veterans recover. Lavr is not
like most therapy dogs. He's fitted with two prosthetic front paws.
"WILD", UKRAINIAN WAR VETERAN: I feel a sense of emotional relief, especially with a dog here on prosthetics, just like us, it's truly
wonderful.
YOUNG (voice-over): Lavr's artificial limbs have not slowed him down. His owner runs a rehabilitation center in Kyiv where Lavr plays and visits with
patients almost every day. A lot of the patients also have prosthetics, and say It's nice seeing a canine friend like them.
IVAN ZHADANI, UKRAINIAN WAR VETERAN: The dog wants to live just like we do, and I'll walk too, not on four legs, but on two.
DMYTRO ZUBARIEV, UKRAINIAN WAR VETERAN: The dog can walk now, and I want two as well. Soon I'll be able to walk too.
YOUNG (voice-over): Lavr's owner and the center's founder says he was rescued near the Odessa railway station, where he lost two front paws in an
accident after he recovered bio engineers and Dnipro gave Lavr prosthetic front paws using the same technology being used for wounded Ukrainian
soldiers, bone integrated titanium implants.
VIACHESLAV ZAPOROZHETS, FOUNDER OF TYTANOVI REHABILITATION CENTER: It's remarkable that our work inspired the veterinarian to perform
osseointegration on this dog, and it succeeded.
YOUNG (voice-over): He says that when he saw Lavr's photos online and read about him, he knew he wanted to adopt him. Now, Lavr has accepted his new
paws and new home as his own.
ZAPOROZHETS: Most important thing is that the dog has accepted the prosthetics. He doesn't chew them. He licks them, treating them as his own
paws. If they felt artificial to him, he would have chewed them off. He's a dog, after all.
YOUNG (voice-over): Lavr's playful energy brings joy to the patients. He says his attitude inspires him to work harder to recover, just like Lavr
did. Ryan Young, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:15:00]
GOLODRYGA: And still to come for us, a dangerous storm is pounding Southern California on Christmas Day. We'll have the very latest conditions. Plus,
jackpot, we've got the latest news on the Powerball winner who has 1.8 billion reasons to celebrate this Christmas.
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GOLODRYGA: It is a very wet Christmas for parts of the U.S., as a dangerous storm is battering California, bringing flooding rain, powerful winds and
heavy mountain snow. Evacuations are under way across southern California, including Wrightwood, where mud and debris flows have triggered rescues.
Flood warnings remain in effect through Christmas Day. And in Northern California, flash flooding is impacting the San Francisco area. Officials
report downed trees and significant flooding on city roadways. CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here with the very latest.
It seems like the Californians as a whole of the entire state can't catch a break here. When will that come, Allison?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, so they're going to have to wait, unfortunately, until the weekend. And I mean that for the entire
state, we've got two more rounds of rain that we're going through. The first one that is ongoing right now. It began earlier this morning, and
it's really been focused over portions of northern and central California.
Look at some of these rainfall totals that have already come in. And this isn't just Northern California. This is for the entire state, but you'll
see several here looking at more than half a foot of rain already, and we still have more rain on the way. Here's a look again. You can see that
first line that made its way through San Francisco, then Sacramento, now making its way through the Sierras, dumping significant amounts of snow,
but we've also had some very heavy rain across Southern California.
Now we've got this next wave that's going to be sliding through here in the coming hours, both today and tomorrow, have the potential for excessive
rainfall. That's why you've got both of these days highlighted with risk areas. Again, most of it focused across Southern California and portions of
central California as well.
That first wave already ongoing. The second wave comes in later on this evening. You're talking 7, 8, 9 o'clock at night. It will continue through
the overnight hours and into early portions of Friday. But during the day, Friday, you're going to see the focus shift from the northern portion of
the state to the southern half of the state by the time we get to the latter part of the day, and then the good news comes.
Finally, when we get into the weekend, we're going to be looking at much drier conditions for the entire state as a whole, very much needed for this
area. The unfortunate part is, until we get there, we do still have some more rain in the forecast. Widespread totals of an extra one to three
inches of rain.
But some spots not out of the question. They can get four to six more inches of rain before it's all said and done. And then when we talk about
the Sierras, the snow pack, you're still looking at up to another three feet of snow that could fall. Again, this is on top of what has already
come down.
So, travel east and west, basically from San Francisco, Sacramento, over towards the Tahoe and Reno area, either direction here.
[11:20:00]
If you're traveling to those places, you are likely going to encounter some significant delays on the roadways just because of how intense that snow is
expected to come down over the next 24-to-36-hour time period. In addition to that, you could also have some delays in the air, because we are dealing
with very gusty winds across several portions, not just in California, but several of the surrounding states as well.
You could be looking at wind gusts of 40, 50, even 60 miles per hour. The other concern, in addition to delays, is when you have winds like this and
a saturated ground, which we know California has. Winds like this can also bring down trees, causing power outages across many of the state -- much of
the state of California, and even some of the surrounding states as well.
GOLODRYGA: All right, that much needed relief coming this weekend, not soon enough for the Christmas holidays however. Allison Chinchar, thank you.
You'll stay on this for us. Well, amid the bipartisan outrage growing on Capitol Hill over the slow drip release of Epstein files, the U.S. Justice
Department says that it's discovered over 1 million additional documents that could be related to the case.
And officials say it may be a few more weeks before this latest batch can be released. The department says lawyers are working around the clock to
review the material and make any redactions that may be needed. It's also asking for volunteers from a prosecutor's office in Southern Florida to
help.
The federally mandated deadline to release all of the Epstein files came and went last Friday. Well, a traffic stops outside Baltimore, Maryland on
Christmas Eve turned violent, as I.C.E. agents opened fire at a moving vehicle, they say tried to run over them. Agents say they shot the man who
was driving the van.
A male passenger was injured when the vehicle crashed. Ice says both men are undocumented migrants. It is the second time in a week where I.C.E.
agents have opened fire during an immigration enforcement operation. In the annual Christmas Eve, jazz concert at Washington, D.C. Kennedy Center has
been called off as a protest over Donald Trump's name being added to the iconic performing arts institution.
The concert's long-time host, percussionist Chuck Redd says that he canceled the annual jazz jam once he saw the name change take place. It's
just the latest protest over the board's decision to rename the facility. Trump's name has already been added to signage at the center, even though
it's unclear if the board, chaired by Donald Trump, has the authority to make the name change.
And the very lucky lottery player in the U.S. is receiving a $1.8 billion gift for the holidays. Powerball officials say a single ticket sold in
Arkansas won the massive jackpot prize on Christmas Eve. It is the second largest U.S. lottery prize in history. We're still waiting to find out who
owns this golden ticket.
CNN's Randi Kaye is following the story for us. So, as we're waiting to find out who purchased this ticket. There are also winners, not $1.8
billion worth, but still a few cool millions handed out.
RANDI KAYE, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh yeah, certainly, you know they're spreading the wealth. Let's put it that way, on this Christmas Day,
but certainly a very Merry Christmas in Arkansas for that winner who got that $1.8 billion ticket. We don't know who the winner is, as you said, we
don't even have any information on the store that actually sold the winning ticket yet.
But we did check, and actually, in the state of Arkansas, the winner can remain anonymous. So, we may never know, but we'll see if they want to come
forward. But here are the winning numbers, just in case, 4, 25, 31, 52, 59, with that red Powerball of 19. Now the drawing, of course, got pushed even
higher because everybody wanted in on the ticket sales.
They were hoping to win the big jackpot, the second largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history. Now, the odds of winning, listen to this, something like 1
in 292 million. So pretty good or pretty bad odds, I guess we should say. The jackpot has been won once before, on Christmas Eve.
It's worth noting also on Christmas Day, but they've never reached a billion dollars. Now, the winner of this prize does have a couple of
options here, Bianna, they can go with that, that cash option, the lump sum payment, which is about $834.9 million or they can take these 29 annual
payments.
Most of the winners do take that lump sum payment, the cash option, but all of this, of course, is before taxes. Now there was one winner on Wednesday,
as you said, one big winner. But eight tickets also won $1 million and those were sold in California, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania and Virginia.
And there were others too. 114 tickets won a $50,000 prize, and 31 tickets won a $100,000 Powerball. And the jackpot now resets to a mere $20 million
for Saturday's drawing nothing like that, nearly 2 billion. But hey, we'll take it.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. It's a good Christmas gift for somebody who I said to you in the last hour when you and I spoke, hopefully will be picking up the
Christmas dinner bill.
[11:25:00]
KAYE: Yeah, they certainly should.
GOLODRYGA: Maybe even New Year's Eve as well. Randi Kaye --
KAYE: Happy holidays to you. Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Thank you. You too. And finally, before we go in, the German capital swimmers, young and old alike, took a cold Christmas Day plunge to
ring in the holidays. Dressed in their Santa hats and Christmas garb, the Berlin seals braved a frigid lake earlier today.
The temperature outside was just minus eight degrees Celsius. Members of the group range in age from 12 to nearly 90 years old. This tradition has
been going on for over 40 years. I said this the last time we aired this clip. I understand the 12-year-olds, perhaps the 90-year-olds.
Wow. That is quite impressive in very cold waters. All right. I am Bianna Golodryga in New York. That's all for "One World" on this Christmas Day.
CNN "Creators" is up next.
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