Pope, Faithful Pray, Share Joy at Holy Sites

Pope John Paul II proclaimed the joy “in our hearts and lips” for the birth of Christ as he celebrated Christmas Eve midnight Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at Vatican City.

In Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, meanwhile, pilgrims sang carols and lights adorned the site worshiped as Jesus’ birthplace, where Christmas Eve celebrations in recent years had been subdued by war and protests.

Arab shopkeepers around Manger Square ignored a call for a general strike by Palestinian activists and opened their doors on Christmas Eve for the first time since the uprising against Israeli rule began four years ago.

At the Vatican, John Paul celebrated the Mass before about 15,000 pilgrims and tourists packed into the basilica for the service, broadcast to millions.

“To us a child is born, to us a son is given,” he declared, quoting from Isaiah.

The Pope, in gold robes embroidered with black, spoke in Italian from an altar flanked by yellow flowers and red poinsettias.

A 75-foot Christmas tree from Austria and a Nativity scene with life-size figures decorated the vast St. Peter’s Square in festivities begun by the Polish-born pontiff.

The Vatican announced TV hookups to 40 countries for midnight Mass and 50 countries for the Pope’s Christmas Day message “Urbi et Orbi”--Latin for “to the city (of Rome) and the world.”

In his homily, the Pope asked: “Are we gathered here, as in every part of the world, on this December night, merely to recall an event which has passed into history, just as every human birth passes into history and gradually becomes a memory?

“To us a son is given: This is an event which is almost 2,000 years old! Yet it cannot be considered an event of the past. This birth belongs to us today, tomorrow and all time.

“Let us once more receive this gift,” John Paul said. “Joy fills our hearts and our lips begin a song in the languages and dialects of the whole world: the song of Christmas! The song of joy and exultation.”

In Bethlehem, unrest gave way to joy around Manger Square and near the Church of the Nativity, which contains the site revered as the site of Jesus’ birth.

In the asphalt-covered plaza, ordinarily a crowded parking lot, choirs from around the world sang Christmas carols to crowds that opened umbrellas against an occasional drizzle.

Palestinian activists had urged owners of surrounding shops and restaurants to close in solidarity with the uprising, but the businesses stayed open, responding to a plea Monday by Bethlehem’s Palestinian mayor, Elias Freij.

Freij, however, canceled a reception for choir singers to protest the lack of an Arabic-language sign on the choir stand alongside Hebrew and English signs. Israelis hastily put up a sign in Arabic, but Freij said it was too late.

One Arab souvenir dealer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one factor in ignoring the strike call was optimism caused by the Middle East peace talks.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers and police patrolled the area. Visitors had to submit to searches and pass through a metal detector to enter Manger Square.

At midnight Mass in the church, Roman Catholic Archbishop Michel Sabah called for peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

“Neither of us has the right to attack the other in the name of God. . . . We ask God to unite our hearts so we can together put an end to the suffering of which we are victims,” Sabah told 3,500 Palestinians, Israeli officials, European diplomats and tourists.

Sabah’s sermon reflected the cautious hopes raised by the U.S.-brokered peace talks.

Many of those in Manager Square on Tuesday were Christian Palestinians who stayed away in recent years in sympathy with the uprising, or intifada, against Israeli occupation.

Away from Manger Square, most shops remained shuttered.

Freij, a Christian and a Palestinian delegate to the U.S.-sponsored peace talks, called for a peace where Jews and Arabs “can live here without fear, without hatred, without quarreling.”

“The message of Bethlehem is peace on Earth,” Freij said. “We pray and hope that next year there will be peace in the Middle East.”