Pope Issues Christmas Appeal for World Peace : Religion: Pontiff calls for an end to violence in Yugoslavia. ‘Enough of hatred and oppression!’ he declares.

Surveying Christmas pilgrims colorfully massed in a sunlit St. Peter’s Square--and the revolutionary but fragile changes sweeping the world beyond them--Pope John Paul II on Wednesday appealed for an end to violence in Yugoslavia and urged humanity to build on new beginnings by embarking on “the difficult but necessary path of unity and peace.”

“Make haste, scattered and fearful humanity, to implore peace, which is both a gift and a task for every person of noble and generous spirit. Enough of hatred and oppression!” the Pope said in his annual Christmas Day address from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Tens of thousands of celebrants from dozens of countries joined neighborhood Romans in the giant square to hear John Paul’s Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” message--”To the City and the World.” From a cloudless sky, a chill north wind played with the Pope’s thick white robe, tugged at bucolic figures in a life-size Nativity scene and frolicked in laden branches of a 75-foot Austrian pine decorating the majestic plaza to honor the birth of Jesus.

“Christians of every continent, committed to the difficult but necessary path of unity and peace, and you, men and women of goodwill who are listening to me, let us all hasten as pilgrims to the manger of Bethlehem. Let us enter the cave, where Jesus speaks of innocence, and peace. . . ,” John Paul urged.

In the 14th Christmas celebration of his reign, the first Polish pontiff applauded changes that have destroyed ideological divisions but warned that there remains a long way to travel in the interests of peace and justice. “This world is full of suffering, suffering with many faces and many shapes,” he said. “To our world, marked by epochal challenges, reveal, O Word Incarnate, the glory and happiness that are to come.”

In a region-by-region survey of the world, the Pope found progress in many areas.

“In Europe, after the collapse of the walls of division and misunderstanding, there is a growing desire to know one another better and a yearning for mutual understanding and cooperation,” he said. “Different nations are seeking new forms of coexistence and are striving with great hope to reconcile their individual histories and to harmonize their respective cultures, albeit at times with uncertainty and haltingly because of age-old tensions and grudges not yet laid to rest.”

The Pope--who dreams of a common Urals-to-the-Atlantic European homeland united by Christian foundations--reiterated his call for a re-evangelization of the Continent. And, as in nearly all of his public comments in recent months, he once again lamented the civil war in Yugoslavia.

“Let there be an end to war in Yugoslavia, an end to war in the beloved land of Croatia and in the neighboring regions, where passions and violence are defying reason and common sense,” the 71-year-old Pope prayed in a ceremony transmitted by television to 50 countries around the world, including Yugoslavia and the United States.

The Vatican said last week it will soon grant formal diplomatic recognition to predominantly Catholic Croatia and Slovenia, its brother breakaway republic.

In his global survey, John Paul noted with pleasure that “the peoples of the Holy Land, which saw the birth of the Redeemer, have finally set out on the path of dialogue and peace.” In parts of Africa, “greater respect for human rights and basic freedoms is coming to be recognized as a shared and desirable goal.” So, too, is there progress in Asia, where “despite persistent tensions, there are faint signs of a reawakening of the sense of justice and peace.”

John Paul also noted progress in Central America, which, he said, “is striving to abandon the suicidal spiral of violence through an ever greater mutual understanding.”

Despite the strides, the Pope lamented, the world is bedeviled by dilemmas that cross borders and cultures. “Let there be an end to indifference and silence before those who seek understanding and solidarity, before the cries of those still dying of hunger, amid wastefulness and abundant wealth.”