Pope keeps up Vatican's campaign against war
The Pope today invoking the peace of Christmas in a world made fearful by terrorism and urged joint efforts to avoid war in the Middle East, likening the situation in Iraq to the “ominous smouldering” of conflict.
On a drizzly, grey morning, thousands of tourists and pilgrims streamed to St Peter’s Square to hear Pope John Paul II deliver his annual “Urbi et Orbi” Christmas Day message – the phrase is Latin for “to the city and to the world” - at noon.
