The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has urged Catholics to remember in their prayers this Christmas the victims of child abuse who have been "robbed of their innocence".
In his Christmas homily, Dr Martin prayed for all those who are "troubled" and have suffered violence in all forms. He also made an appeal for peace, both internationally and, particularly, in Ireland.
"We pray for those who are troubled and anxious in their hearts. We pray for the victims of violence in all its forms, in war zones or within the walls of their own homes. We remember children who have suffered violence and abuse, who were robbed of their innocence.
"We remember too the innocent children who in this night anywhere suffer hunger and the horrors of conflict."
Dr Martin was preaching at midnight Mass at the Pro-Cathedral this weekend. He commended the efforts of those who had tried to bring a lasting peace to Northern Ireland this year.
"Once again we end a year still hoping for a complete and lasting peace in our own country. We thank God for the efforts of all those who have worked so hard in these past months, in public or behind the scenes, for peace and a stable political framework for the future."
He also urged the congregation to pray for those still drawn to using violent means.
"We pray that those still attracted to the path of violence may be touched by the message of Christmas, the message of the God of strength who entered human history in gentleness and tenderness," the archbishop said.
"Rarely in our recent political history has there been such a united longing for peace, shared by young and old, across all the political and religious traditions on our Ireland. Peace is possible."
Dr Martin prayed for those working for peace around the world and for Irish troops abroad. He called for prayers for carers looking after the sick and elderly and those working against violence and crime in society
"We pray for those who work day in and day out to provide opportunity for our young people, and steer them away from the death trap of a culture of drink or drugs, or violence."
Preaching at midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh, the Catholic Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Seán Brady, said he was concerned people were losing their "Christian memory".
"At the root of the current loss of authentic hope lies an attempt to promote a vision of the world and of humankind apart from God and apart from Christ," he said.
"An Ireland that shows some signs of losing its Christian memory and of forgetting that it is not man who created God but God who created man, would do well to ponder, like Mary, what took place at Bethlehem."
Christmas, Dr Brady said, reminded us that God "is in no way distant or disinterested" from the world. "God is present, as present and available as we want Him to be. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to be its Saviour."
