Watch live as Pope Francis celebrates Christmas Eve mass in Vatican City

Pope Francis celebrates Christmas Eve mass at St. Peter's Basilica.

The head of the Catholic Church urged Vatican cardinals, bishops and bureaucrats Thursday to embrace humility this Christmas season, saying their pride, self-interest and the “glitter of our armor” was perverting their spiritual lives and corrupting the church’s mission.

Francis used his annual Christmas address to take Vatican administrators to task for their perceived moral and personal failings, denouncing in particular those who “rigidly” hide behind Catholic Church traditions rather than seek out the neediest with humility.