Pope pleads for peaceful end to nuclear stand-off

POPE BENEDICT XVI yesterday urged the use of diplomacy to defuse nuclear crises, in a clear reference to worries over Iran, and prayed that Palestinians would have their own state alongside that of Israel.

On Christianity’s most joyous day, which coincided with Benedict’s 79th birthday, the pontiff prayed that violence would cease in Iraq as he painted a bleak picture in much of the world.

From the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, Benedict reflected on the globe’s hotspots shortly after he celebrated Easter Mass in St Peter’s Square, which was packed with some 100,000 pilgrims and tourists on a breezy, hazy day.