Let Christmas bring consolation to people in "tortured regions" - Pope

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 December 2007, 14:10 GMT]
Pope Benedict XVI, in his Christmas Day appeal to political leaders around the world asked them to draw on their "wisdom and courage" to end bloody conflicts in the world. The Pope said he hoped Christmas would bring consolation to all people "who live in the darkness of poverty, injustice and war," in particular those living in the "tortured regions" of the world including Sri Lanka.

The Pope mentioned Darfur, Somalia, northern Congo, the Eritrea-Ethiopia border, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Balkans, besides Sri Lanka as the world's "tortured regions," an Associated Press report from Vatican said.

The traditional "Urbi et Orbi (to the city and to the world)" speech delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, blessed thousands of people gathered in the square below.

"May the child Jesus bring relief to those who are suffering and may he bestow upon political leaders the wisdom and courage to seek and find humane, just and lasting solutions," the AP report quoted Pope as saying.

"The pontiff delivered his message just hours after celebrating Midnight Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Benedict followed his speech with his traditional Christmas Day greetings - this year delivered in 63 different languages, including Mongolian, Finnish, Arabic, Hebrew, Swahili, Burmese, and in a new entry for 2007, Guarani, a South American Indian language.

As he finished, the bells of St. Peter's tolled and the Vatican's brightly outfitted Swiss Guards stood at attention as a band played and a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands waved national flags and cheered," the AP report said.

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Pope makes Christmas appeal for world peace