Pope Deplores Lack of Christmas Peace

While praising breakthroughs in places like Bosnia-Herzegovina, Pope John Paul II said the peace of Christmas is violated by violence in the Mideast, Africa and other troubled areas. Heeding his doctors’ advice to get more rest, John Paul skipped his traditional appointment with the faithful in St. Peter’s Basilica for late-morning Christmas Mass. He did, however, make his “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) address at noon from the central balcony of the massive church. In it, he said he was distressed by long-running conflicts “shattering the spell of peace brought by this holy day.”