BERLIN (AP) — For the elephants and others at the Berlin Zoo, it's finally time to unwrap their Christmas presents.
Trees that didn't find a home this festive season were given to some of the animals on Friday in what has become an annual event. Elephants tore off branches with their trunks, lobbing them around their enclosure or eating the greenery.
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A giraffe grazes on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo, in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Elephants graze on Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Giraffes graze on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees, at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A European Forest Reindeer grazes on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo, in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
European Forest Reindeers graze on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees, at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A giraffe grazes on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo, in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
An elephant grazes on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo, in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
An elephant feasts on Christmas tree during the feeding of the elephants with unused Christmas trees, at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
An elephant grazes on Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo, in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The zoo takes only fresh, unsold trees from select vendors. It doesn’t accept trees from the public, which could contain chemicals or leftover decorations.
“They don’t just serve as food, they are also used to keep the animals occupied,” said Florian Sicks, the zoo's curator for mammals.
“The animals can fight with them, they can rub themselves against them, they can throw themselves over them and do various other things with these fir trees,” he added. "And so we enrich the animals’ everyday lives, which they are very happy about.”
While the elephants eat up much of the tree, other animals take a more cautious approach.
This year, the giraffes got the belated stocking-fillers for the first time — suspended upside down at the height of their heads. Max enjoyed more than a taste of the greenery, but companion Mugambi appeared unconvinced after inspecting it.
A giraffe grazes on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo, in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Elephants graze on Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Giraffes graze on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees, at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A European Forest Reindeer grazes on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo, in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
European Forest Reindeers graze on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees, at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A giraffe grazes on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo, in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
An elephant grazes on a Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo, in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
An elephant feasts on Christmas tree during the feeding of the elephants with unused Christmas trees, at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
An elephant grazes on Christmas tree during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at the Zoo, in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis said in a letter published Tuesday that his lengthy illness has helped make “more lucid” to him the absurdity of war, as his top deputy rejected any suggestion of resignation and Buckingham Palace announced plans for an upcoming audience with Britain's King Charles III.
Italian daily Corriere della Sera published a letter to the editor from Francis, signed and dated March 14 from Rome's Gemelli hospital where the 88-year-old pontiff has been treated since Feb. 14 for a complex lung infection and double pneumonia.
In it, Francis renewed his call for diplomacy and international organizations to find a “new vitality and credibility.” And he said that his own illness had also helped make some things clearer to him, including the “absurdity of war.”
“Human fragility has the power to make us more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills,” he wrote.
Responding to a letter from the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Luciano Fontana, Francis also urged him and all those in the media to “feel the full importance of words.”
“They are never just words: they are facts that shape human environments. They can connect or divide, serve the truth or use it for other ends,” he wrote. “We must disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the Earth.”
The letter was published as Francis registered slight improvements in his treatment and as the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, shot down any suggestion the pope might resign.
“Absolutely no,” Parolin told journalists on Monday when asked if he and the pope had discussed a resignation. Parolin has visited Francis twice during his hospitalization, most recently on March 2, and said he found Francis better than during his first Feb. 25 visit.
Also on Tuesday, Francis received a standing ovation from the Italian Senate, after Premier Giorgia Meloni sent her greetings and said “not just this chamber, but all of the Italian people″ wish the pope a full recovery “as soon as possible.”
Meloni, who was the first outsider to visit the pope after he was hospitalized, said that “even in a trying moment, his strength and guidance have been felt.”
Francis for the second day spent some time off high flows of oxygen and used just ordinary supplemental oxygen delivered by a nasal tube, the Holy See press office said Tuesday. In addition, for the first time in several weeks he didn't use the noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask at night at all, to force his lungs to work more.
While those amount to “slight improvements,” the Vatican isn’t yet providing any timetable on when he might be released. That said, Buckingham Palace announced Monday that King Charles III was scheduled to meet with Francis on April 8 at the Vatican, assuming he is back and well enough.
Such state visits are always closely organized with Parolin's office. However, the Vatican press office on Tuesday declined to confirm the visit, noting that the Holy See only confirms papal audiences shortly before they happen.
The developments came as the Vatican released some details on the first photograph of Francis released since his hospitalization. The image, taken Sunday from behind, showed Francis sitting in his wheelchair in his private chapel in prayer without any sign of nasal tubes.
The photo, showing Francis wearing a Lenten purple stole, followed an audio message the pope recorded March 6 in which he thanked people for their prayers, his voice soft and labored.
Together, they suggested Francis is very much controlling how the public follows his illness to prevent it from turning into a spectacle. While many in the Vatican have held up St. John Paul II’s long and public battle with Parkinson’s disease and other ailments as a humble sign of his willingness to show his frailties, others criticized it as excessive and glorifying sickness.
The image certainly reassured some well-wishers who came to Gemelli to pray for Francis, who is recovering in the 10th-floor papal suite reserved for popes.
“After a month of hospitalization, finally a photo that can assure us that his health conditions are better,” said the Rev. Enrico Antonio, a priest from Pescara.
But Benedetta Flagiello of Naples, who was visiting her sister at Gemelli, wondered if the photo was even real.
“Because if the pope can sit for a moment without a mask, without anything, why didn’t he look out the window on the 10th floor to be seen by everyone?” she asked. “If you remember our old pope (John Paul II), he couldn’t speak up, but he showed up.”
Associated Press writers Paolo Santalucia and Silvia Stellacci contributed to this report.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Faithful pray in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, during a vigil rosary for the recovery of Pope Francis, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Faithful pray in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, during a vigil rosary for the recovery of Pope Francis, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
FILE - Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
Cardinal Dominique Mamberti prays in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, during a vigil rosary for the recovery of Pope Francis, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
This picture released by the Vatican Press Office shows Pope Francis concelebrating a mass inside his private chapel att the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome on Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Vatican Press Office, Via AP )
