Celebrating the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Peace
in a solemn New Year's Day mass in St Peter's Basilica, the
78-year-old pontiff lamented what are often considered the most
violent 100 years in human history.
"When we look at the events of this century drawing to a
close, we see before us two world wars, cemeteries, tombs to the
fallen, destroyed families, tears and desperation, misery and
suffering,'' he said.
"How can we forget the concentration camps, the children of
Israel cruelly exterminated, the martyred saints...?''
He recalled, among others, Edith Stein, a Jewish-born nun
who died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and whom he put on the
road to sainthood last October.
But the Pope, who walked down the aisle of the vast, packed
church with a pronounced stoop and looked weary during the
90-minute service, also lauded progress on human rights.
"Our century is also the century of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which recently celebrated its 50th
anniversary,'' he said.
The Pontiff, who experienced World War Two at first hand in
his native Poland, later addressed pilgrims in a sunny St
Peter's Square and cited the declaration, signed in 1948.
He recalled his own 20-page message for the World Day of
Peace, called "Respect for Human Rights: the Secret of True
Peace,'' which he sent to heads of state before Christmas.
"The culture of human rights cannot be other than the
culture of peace,'' he said.
The Pope has been a tireless crusader for human rights and
the poor during his reign, and in his World Peace Day message he
said the globalization of financial markets should not ride
roughshod over basic human needs.
He began last year by visiting communist Cuba on a
ground-breaking trip that led to the release of hundreds of
political prisoners.
The globe-trotting Pope, who celebrated his 20th anniversary
as head of the Roman Catholic Church in October 1998, has become
enfeebled by health problems in recent years.
Doctors viewing him from a distance have attributed his
violently trembling left hand and slow stooped gait to
Parkinson's disease or a related neurological disorder. The
Vatican has never confirmed or denied this.
The Pope's doctors have urged him to slow down following an
appendix operation in 1996, but he has shown little sign of
curtailing his schedule as he leads the Church toward the Holy
Year in 2000.
He is due to visit Mexico and the United States on January
22-28 and to make his eighth and longest visit to his native
Poland in June.