Pope Calls for a New World Order
Pope Benedict, in his first Christmas address, on Sunday urged humanity to unite
against terrorism, poverty and environmental blight and called for a "new world
order" to correct economic imbalances.
The Pope made his comments to tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered under
umbrellas in a rainy St Peter square for his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the
world) message and blessing.
In his address, telecast live from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica to
tens of millions of people in nearly 40 countries, he also urged his listeners
not to let technological achievements blind them to true human values.
He said humanity should look to the Christ child for encouragement in times of
difficulty and fear.
"A united humanity will be able to confront the many troubling problems of the
present time: from the menace of terrorism to the humiliating poverty in which
millions of human beings live, from the proliferation of weapons to the
pandemics and the environmental destruction
which threatens the future of our planet," he said.
"Do not fear; put your trust in him! The life-giving power of his light is an
incentive for building a new world order based on just ethical and economic
relationships," he said, speaking in Italian.
The address by the leader of the world's some 1.1 billion Roman Catholics was
different in style than those of his predecessor John Paul, who died last April.
John Paul wrote his Christmas addresses in free-style verse and resembled
poetry, whereas Benedict's was in prose like a normal homily or speech.
Since his election, the Pope has repeatedly reminded Catholics not to give in to
an "ethical relativism" where circumstances can be used to justify actions that
should be considered wrong in all cases.
The Pope, wearing a gold cape and with a gold mitre, continued in that line on
Sunday by beaming in on the dangers of technology and progress, implying that it
should not be allowed to become tantamount to a God in its own right.
"Today we can dispose of vast material resources. But the men and women in our
technological age risk becoming victims of their own intellectual and technical
achievements, ending up in spiritual barrenness and emptiness of heart," he
said.
"That is why it is so important for us to open our minds and hearts to the birth
of Christ, this event of salvation which can give new hope to the life of each
human being," he said.
In other parts of the address he appealed for respect for the rights of people
suffering a humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.
He made another appeal for peace in the Holy Land and called for "actions
inspired by fairness and wisdom" in Iraq and Lebanon.
The Pope asked God to favor dialogue on the Korean peninsula so that "dangerous
disputes" there and elsewhere in Asia can be solved peacefully.
The Urbi et Orbi followed a solemn Christmas eve midnight mass attended by a
congregation that packed St Peter's Basilica.
In his homily at that mass he urged the world's Catholics to be beacons of peace
in a troubled world and offered a special prayer for an end to strife in the
Holy Land.
The next major event on the Pope's Christmas season calendar is a mass on the
Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. Two days later he will baptize children.
In early January, the Pope is due to publish his first encyclical, a major
writing addressed to all Church members.
The encyclical, believed to be called "God is Love", deals with the individual's
personal relationship with God.
