The Archbishop of Canterbury will use his sermon on Christmas Day to highlight the suffering of children caught up in the Israel-Hamas war.

The Most Rev Justin Welby is expected to say “the skies of Bethlehem are full of fear rather than angels and glory”, referring to Jesus Christ’s birthplace, which is now in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

He will then compare the turbulent conditions of Jesus’s birth with the plight of children today in the troubled region.

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“Today a crying child is in a manger somewhere in the world, nobody willing or able to help his parents who desperately need shelter. Or in an incubator, in a hospital low on electricity, like al Ahli (hospital) in Gaza, surrounded by conflict,” he will say during his sermon at Canterbury Cathedral.

Also referring to Ukraine and Sudan, Mr Welby will say: “So many parts of the world seem beset with violence.”

He will add that a commitment to “serving, not in being served” was needed to resolve problems of climate change, terrorism, economic inequality and “the desperation and ambitions that drive more and more to migration”.

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Addressing the King, the Archbishop will suggest the monarch is following the example of Jesus in providing leadership through service.

“Two thousand years later, at a coronation, it seemed natural and right for a king in royal robes to answer a child, ‘I come not to be served, but to serve’ – and we know it to be his intention, the right way to be a king,” Mr Welby will say, having conducted the coronation on 6 May.

The King is set to knight the Archbishop of Canterbury in the upcoming New Year Honours list, according to reports.

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