The Pope delivered his traditional Christmas Day message to the world urging for world peace especially in war-plagued areas of the globe like Somalia, Darfur and the Ivory Coast. 

As always his Christmas message was delived before crowds gathered to celebrate Christmas mass in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.  The message was delived by the pontiff in 65 different languages to approximately 10,000 faithful gathered.  This year security was heightened as a result of last year’s attack on the Pope, when a woman attempted to topple him during the Christmas mass.

The Christmas message highlighted his concern for parts of the globe that are suffering:  Haiti suffering from cholera and the aftermath of the earthquake, tenuous times between North and South Korea and the human rights violations during time of war like those occurring in Afghanistan.  In closing the Pope reached out to China’s catholic’s chiding the Chinese government for imposing religious “limitations” on all of its people.  China and the Vatican have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1951.