December 25, 200520 yr VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, in his first Christmas address, on Sunday urged humanity to unite against terrorism, poverty and environmental blight and called for a "new world order" to correct economic imbalances. The Pope made his comments to tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered under umbrellas in a rainy St Peter square for his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message and blessing. In his address, telecast live from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica to tens of millions of people in nearly 40 countries, he also urged his listeners not to let technological achievements blind them to true human values. He said humanity should look to the Christ child for encouragement in times of difficulty and fear. "A united humanity will be able to confront the many troubling problems of the present time: from 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 which threatens the future of our planet," he said. "Do not fear; put your trust in him! The life-giving power of his light is an incentive for building a new world order based on just ethical and economic relationships," he said, speaking in Italian. Marching bands of the Swiss Guard and Italian police played for the crowd near a larger-than-life nativity scene, making for a festive atmosphere despite the rain. The address by the leader of the world's some 1.1 billion Roman Catholics was different in style than those of his predecessor John Paul, who died last April. John Paul wrote his Christmas addresses in free-style verse and resembled poetry, whereas Benedict's was in prose like a normal homily or speech. After the address, Benedict wished the world a Happy Christmas in 33 languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Swahili, Japanese and Latin. His predecessor sometimes used twice as many languages on Christmas. DO NOT MAKE TECHNOLOGY A GOD Since his election, the Pope has repeatedly reminded Catholics not to give in to an "ethical relativism" where circumstances can be used to justify actions that should be considered wrong in all cases. The Pope, wearing a gold cape and with a gold mitre, continued in that line on Sunday address by focusing on the dangers of technology and progress. "Today we can dispose of vast material resources. But the men and women in our technological age risk becoming victims of their own intellectual and technical achievements, ending up in spiritual barrenness and emptiness of heart," he said. "That is why it is so important for us to open our minds and hearts to the birth of Christ, this event of salvation which can give new hope to the life of each human being," he said. He also urged respect for the rights of people suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan, made another appeal for peace in the Holy Land and called for "actions inspired by fairness and wisdom" in Iraq and Lebanon. The Pope asked God to favor dialogue on the Korean peninsula so that "dangerous disputes" there and elsewhere in Asia can be solved peacefully. The Sunday Urbi et Orbi followed a Christmas eve midnight mass attended by a congregation that packed St Peter's Basilica. In his homily at that mass he urged the world's Catholics to be beacons of peace in a troubled world. The next major event on the Pope's Christmas season calendar is a mass on the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. In early January, the Pope is due to publish his first encyclical, a major writing addressed to all Church members. The encyclical deals with the individual's personal relationship with God. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051225/ts_nm/...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
December 25, 200520 yr After the address, Benedict wished the world a Happy Christmas in 33 languages, including...Hebrew :plain
December 25, 200520 yr After the address, Benedict wished the world a Happy Christmas in 33 languages, including...Hebrew :plain thats his way of saying he forgives you... :lol :lol
December 25, 200520 yr After the address, Benedict wished the world a Happy Christmas in 33 languages, including...Hebrew :plain amazing response.
December 26, 200520 yr After the address, Benedict wished the world a Happy Christmas in 33 languages, including...Hebrew :plainArabic and Japanese aren't exactly majority Catholic languages either, but nobody is making a big deal of it.
December 26, 200520 yr I don't like the sound of this New World Order. It's something that conspiricy theorists have been saying for years and years. There is a man named William Cooper, who said the pope would call for a NWO....wierd.
December 26, 200520 yr I don't like the sound of this New World Order. It's something that conspiricy theorists have been saying for years and years. There is a man named William Cooper, who said the pope would call for a NWO....wierd. Recent leaders have been including those words in their speeches, including the last three U.S. presidents. It has lead conspiracy theorists to believe that something bad is around the corner. One speculation involves a new World Government possibly taking over. Who really knows, this is all just random speculation. But it does seem a little odd to me that people keep mentioning a "New World Order".
December 26, 200520 yr I don't like the sound of this New World Order. It's something that conspiricy theorists have been saying for years and years. There is a man named William Cooper, who said the pope would call for a NWO....wierd. Recent leaders have been including those words in their speeches, including the last three U.S. presidents. It has lead conspiracy theorists to believe that something bad is around the corner. One speculation involves a new World Government possibly taking over. Who really knows, this is all just random speculation. But it does seem a little odd to me that people keep mentioning a "New World Or der". It is scary, because MANY people claimed that this was going to happen not to long after the turn of the century. Supposedly, the plans to implement a New World Order where put into actions right after WW2. Many people claim it has to do with, believe it or not, ALIENS! Which sounds incredibly far fetched, right. Look up the CRF, and the MJ12. It's a little spooky if you ask me.
December 26, 200520 yr Aliens are among us. I'm sure of it. The evidence of UFOs is undeniable. Hell, the guys on the Apollo 11 mission saw something outside their spacecraft that NASA couldn't explain.
December 27, 200520 yr Maybe they got the New World Order idea from the nWo? Yanevaknow. LOL, that would be funny. Especially thinking about the Pope watching wrestling.
December 27, 200520 yr Maybe they got the New World Order idea from the nWo? Yanevaknow. LOL, that would be funny. Especially thinking about the Pope watching wrestling. When you're nWo, you're nwo 4 life...... ....Voodoo Child starts playing....
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