Sri Lanka, Dec. 26 -- Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor and strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself.

Leo, who has made care for immigrants and the poor key themes of his early papacy, said Jesus' birth showed God's presence in every person as the pontiff led the world's 1.4 billion Catholics into Christmas at a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

"On earth, there is no room for God if there is no room for the human person. To refuse one is to refuse the other," said the Pope during the solemn service, attended by about 6,000 inside the basilica.

Leo, the first U.S.-born P...