Pope highlights Asian Church’s work for peace

VATICAN CITY (UCAN) — Pope Benedict XVI, in his Christmas Day message, highlighted the role of the Church in Asia as “a leaven of reconciliation and peace,” especially in Sri Lanka, the Korean peninsula and the Philippines.

The Pope said the Church across the globe “offers” Jesus “to all those who seek him with a sincere heart, to the earth’s lowly and afflicted, to the victims of violence, and to all who yearn for peace.”

The Pope, who will be 83 on April 17, appeared in good health and unaffected by the attack on him by a Swiss-Italian woman, who jumped the security barriers and knocked him to the ground as he walked into St. Peter’s Basilica for Christmas Eve Mass.

In his message, the Pope said the Church shows solidarity and offers hope in Christ to humanity as it suffers from not only “a grave financial crisis” but “even more by a moral crisis,” as well as “the painful wounds of wars and conflicts.”

The Church throughout the world “shows solidarity with the victims of natural disasters and poverty, even within opulent societies.”

Moreover, when faced with “all those who migrate from their homelands and are driven away by hunger, intolerance or environmental degradation,” he said the Church is one of those who call for “an attitude of acceptance and welcome.”

Everywhere, he said, the Church proclaims the Gospel of Christ even when faced with “persecutions, discriminations, attacks and at times hostile indifference.”

He said the Church in the Holy Land is encouraging people “to abandon every logic of violence and vengeance” and to engage again “in the process which leads to peaceful co-existence.”

He also spoke about the work of the Church in Iraq, the plight of the diminishing number of Christians throughout the Middle East and the dramatic situation in parts of Africa, including the Congo, Guinea and Niger.

Pope Benedict concluded by extending his Christmas greetings in a record 65 languages, including Bengali, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Mongolian, Sinhalese, Tamil, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese.

There were many Asians in St. Peter’s Square and the different national groups cheered when he spoke in their language.

When he finished his greetings, Pope Benedict imparted his blessing to his global audience.
ZY08445.1582 December 28, 2009 39 EM-lines (373 words)