Pope’s Christmas message to Chinese: Have courage

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY

Pope Benedict XVI urged loyal Catholics in China to have courage in the face of communist limits on religious freedom and conscience, a Christmas Day message highlighting the tensions between Beijing and the Vatican.

Benedict used his traditional holiday speech, delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to tourists and pilgrims in the rain-soaked square, to encourage people living in the world’s troublespots to take hope from the “comforting message” of Christmas. Those areas range from strife-torn Afghanistan to the volatile Korean peninsula to the Holy Land where Jesus was born — and even to China.

In recent weeks, tensions have flared anew between the Vatican and Beijing over the Chinese government’s defiance of the pope’s authority to name bishops and its insistence that prelates loyal to Rome attend a gathering against their will to promote China’s state-backed church.

“May the birth of the savior strengthen the spirit of faith, patience and courage of the faithful of the church in mainland China, that they may not lose heart through the limitations imposed on their freedom of religion and conscience.”

The pope also expressed hope that Christmas might inspire respect for human rights in Afghanistan and Pakistan and “advance reconciliation on the Korean peninsula.” He also prayed that people in Haiti still struggling with the aftermath of January’s devastating earthquake and, more recently, cholera, would draw hope for their future.