Pontiff Points to ‘Renewed Hope for Peace’ at Midnight Mass
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VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II, at a Christmas Eve midnight Mass attended by more than 10,000 worshipers, proclaimed the “great joy” of Christ’s birth and evoked a “renewed hope for peace” in the Balkans and around the world.
“On the night of the Lord’s birth, we sense renewed hope for peace for all individuals and for all peoples afflicted by war: in the Balkans, in Africa and wherever there is no peace,” the pope, speaking in Italian, told those assembled in St. Peter’s Basilica.
John Paul’s homily was heard by hundreds of millions of people around the world. More than 60 countries, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, received a satellite broadcast of the Mass, the Vatican said.
After Christmas Day Mass, John Paul at noon delivers the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” message--meaning in Latin “To the city [of Rome] and the world.”
This year, for the first time, the pope’s words will reach the Internet’s World Wide Web on a Holy See home page.
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