Pope Decries Selfishness in Economic Crisis

Pope's Christmas Message Says World Needs Solidarity, Not Selfishness, Amid Economic Meltdown 

ABC News

By FRANCES D'EMILIO AP Writer, VATICAN CITY December 25, 2008 

Pope Benedict XVI walks past a statue of Baby Jesus as he celebrates the Christmas Midnight Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican early Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Benedict XVI warned in his Christmas message Thursday that the world was headed toward ruin if selfishness prevails over solidarity during tough economic times for rich and poor nations. 

Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Benedict declared that the "heart of the Christian message is meant for all men and women." 

The traditional papal Christmas Day message "Urbi et Orbi" — Latin for "to the City and to the World" — usually covers the globe's hot spots, but this year Benedict also addressed the economic conditions worrying many across the planet amid near-daily news of layoffs, failing companies and people losing homes. 

Benedict said his Christmas message applied to "wherever an increasingly uncertain future is regarded with apprehension, even in affluent nations." 

"In each of these places may the light of Christmas shine forth and encourage all people to do their part in a spirit of authentic solidarity," Benedict said. "If people look only to their own interests, our world will certainly fall apart." 

Wearing a crimson mantle against a damp chill, Benedict told tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square that God's saving grace could "alone transform evil into good" and "change human hearts, making them oases of peace." 

Benedict dedicated part of his message to Africa, singling out Zimbabwe, where hunger is spreading and deepening. He said that people there were "trapped for too long in a political and social crisis which, sadly, keeps worsening." 

International pressure has been mounting for longtime Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe to step down, following disputed elections in March. Millions of Zimbabwe's people need food aid, and a cholera epidemic has sharpened problems in a country once considered African's breadbasket. 

Suffering also continues in the war-ravaged region of Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in Darfur, Sudan, the pope added. In Somalia, people are weighed down with "interminable sufferings" as "the tragic consequences of the lack of stability and peace," he said. 

Suffering also continues in the war-ravaged region of Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in Darfur, Sudan, the pope added. In Somalia, people are weighed down with "interminable sufferings" as "the tragic consequences of the lack of stability and peace," he said. 

Benedict spoke of violence and tensions in the Middle East, lamenting that "the horizon seems once again bleak for Israelis and Palestinians." 

He denounced what he called the "twisted logic of conflict and violence" and said he hoped dialogue and negotiation would prevail to find "just and lasting solutions to the conflicts troubling the region."