Prayers for Peace Offered Around Globe

In churches and chapels, the birth of Jesus was celebrated Christmas Day with carols and a hope that the annual prayers for peace might be answered in the new millennium.

In Rome, Pope John Paul II attacked abortion and called for a ban on the senseless use of weapons as the Vatican launched its Jubilee, a year of forgiveness and self-reflection.

Describing himself and fellow believers as “pilgrims in time,” John Paul spoke of “all the places of grief and of war” and urged people to “ban the senseless use of arms and the recourse to violence and hatred which have doomed individuals, peoples and continents.”

Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah’s midnight Mass was the highlight of two joyous days of festivities in Bethlehem, although there appeared to be far fewer pilgrims than the 60,000 that Palestinian organizers had expected in the city where Christians believe Jesus was born.

In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, the Roman Catholic bishop whose diocese covers most of Serbia, the country’s dominant republic, said that “forgiveness and reconciliation” is the only way to overcome the misery in the troubled Balkan region.

In Istanbul, Turkey, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, called the faithful “to the knowledge of Christ, to vigilance, repentance, prayer, ascetic striving and sobriety.”

Queen Elizabeth II commended a simple rule--love thy neighbor--in her address. “The future is not only about new gadgets, modern technology or the latest fashion, important as these may be,” the queen said. “At the center of all our lives--today and tomorrow--must be the message of caring for others, the message at the heart of Christianity and all the great religions.”

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein used his Christmas message to attack the United States, Britain and Israel. In a letter published by the official Iraqi News Agency, he congratulated Christians and other Iraqis “who have stood tall facing the aggression and the aggressors.”