To the World

The Christmas address is called “Urbi et Orbi”, to the city of Rome present to hear the Holy Father, and to the world listening.

The world is listening. Here’s just one media outlet carrying the message.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke against consumerism, religious hatred and violence and prayed for peace in the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Africa in his annual Christmas-Day address.

As technology like the Internet makes the world a “global village” and scientists decipher the human genome, “some people remain enslaved, exploited and stripped of their dignity,” the pope said in his Urbi et Orbi, or To the City and the World, speech from a balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

“Others see their bodies and those of their dear ones, particularly their children, maimed by weaponry, by terrorism and by all sorts of violence, at a time when everyone invokes and acclaims progress, solidarity and peace for all,” he said.

There are “victims of racial and religious hated, hampered by intolerance and discrimination, and by political interference and physical or moral coercion with regard to the free profession of faith,” he said.

Benedict continues to be the world’s most vocal advocate for religious freedom. And for peace.

“With deep apprehension I think, on this festive day, of the Middle East, marked by so many grave crises and conflicts, and I express my hope that the way will be opened to a just and lasting peace,” Pope Benedict said, making a special mention of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I place in the hands of the divine Child of Bethlehem the indications of a resumption of dialogue between the Israelis and the Palestinians, which we have witnessed in recent days, and the hope of further encouraging developments,” the pontiff added.

And better than anyone else, he is the voice of hope.