Pope calls for new world order

Pope Benedict XVI delivered his first traditional Christmas address yesterday as leader of the world’s Catholic Church.

In the “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) address, beamed by satellite from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, the pontiff beseeched hundreds of millions of followers in nearly 40 countries to unite against terrorism, poverty and environmental pollution.

Benedict said the world was afflicted with “the menace of terrorism to the humiliating poverty in which millions of human beings live, from the proliferation of weapons to the pandemics and the environmental destruction that threatens the future of our planet”.

The 78-year old called for “peace and harmony’ in Sudan’s Darfur region, in “the Holy Land”, in Iraq and in Lebanon.

He called for a “new world order” to correct economic imbalances.

The address, delivered in 33 different languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese and Latin, heard the Pope urge pilgrims not to let technological advances blind them to true human values.

“Man in our technological age risks becoming a victim of his own intellectual and technological achievements, resulting in spiritual atrophy and emptiness of heart,” he said.

The Roman Catholic pontiff is the spiritual leader to more than one billion Catholics worldwide.

German-born Benedict, who became the pope following the death of John Paul II in April, delivers mass on the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th.

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