Pope calls for solidarity

Pope Benedict XVI urged a world confronting a financial crisis, conflict, and increasing poverty not to lose hope at Christmas, but to join in “authentic solidarity” to prevent global ruin.

Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to tens of thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans in the square below, the Pope called his Christmas message known as “Urbi et Orbi” – Latin for “to the City and to the World” – a “proclamation of hope”.