"Encounters develop the sensitivity to the needs of those close to us," the cardinal said. "We are faced with a new need for encounters, honest dialogue. It is good to go outside of oneself and connect with others. Encounters demand the renouncing of selfishness, a bigger knowledge of others, gentleness and kindness," he said.
The archbishop underlined the importance of family, but asked "do we behave so that we build (families), strengthen and protect them, or do we reconcile with the fact that families are disintegrating, that marriages are being destroyed, that children don't have the shelter of a healthy upbringing?"
"Christmas urges us to seriously think and pray so that, as individuals and as a people, we are not negligent," the cardinal said.
He called for praying for peace for the countries and peoples affected by war, saying Christians were still being persecuted around the world, notably in the Middle East.
At last night's midnight service, Bozanic said Christmas called for a new lifestyle, new relations between people, a life in a world with more generosity, forgiveness and true love.
He remembered Syria, saying it brought daily images and reports of a horrific war, of daily killings and numerous refugees, and that it encouraged prayer for weapons to be silent, for war to end and for the displaced to return to their homes.
He said the Gospel offered the possibility to change the world, society and every person so that there could be new births in families, jobs for young people and the unemployed, respect for the dignity of every person, less tensions between people, and the protection of human life from conception to natural death.
Christmas services were held in churches around the country.