The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI has offered a Christmas prayer for peace in the Holy Land yesterday. During a Christmas speech the Pope highlighted children, including the unborn, as he led the midnight Mass in St Peter’s Basilica.

|PIC1|The Pope re-emphasised the Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion by referring to unborn children. Referring to the birth of Christ, he said, “God is so powerful that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenceless child, so that we can love him.

He explained that some of the splendour of Christmas shines on every child, even those that are not born yet.

“On this night, when we look toward Bethlehem, let us pray in a special way for the birthplace of our Redeemer and for the men and women who live and suffer there. We wish to pray for peace in the Holy Land.”

Huge crowds gathered in Rome for the Mass, and for the overflow, two giant screens were set up in St Peter’s Square, which were made festive with a hundred-foot high Austrian fir, glimmering with Christmas decorations.

The service was Pope Benedict’s first Mass since being elected as the new pontiff on April 19th.

At precisely noon yesterday, the Pope delivered the “Urbi et Orbi” message, which is Latin for “the city and the world”, to pilgrims and tourists that had gathered in St Peter’s Square.

|AD|Former Pope John Paul II used to deliver his holiday message in a dozen separate languages, and would use the Christmas message to review various world issues, often speaking of international conflicts and poverty.

Addressing thousands of pilgrims, Pope Benedict called for Christians and all humanity to experience a spiritual wake-up.

The Pope said people of the 21st Century risked becoming “victims of their intellectual achievements”.

Pope Benedict decried the “menace” of terrorism, and the “humiliation” of worldwide poverty and he told how pandemics and environmental destruction were dangerous new threats.

He said: “The men and women in our technical age risk becoming victims of their own intellectual and technical achievements, ending up in spiritual barrenness and emptiness of heart.”

The Pope prayed for those working for peace and against conflicts in Africa and Asia, and n addition he prayed for harmony in Latin America.

This year the address was translated into 33 different languages including Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Finnish.