(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-25 22:27

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI issued a Christmas Day appeal Tuesday to political leaders around the globe to find the "wisdom and courage" to end bloody conflicts in Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan and Congo.

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing from the velvet-draped central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, before delivering his "Urbi et Orbi" message, Latin for ''to the city and to the world", Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2007. [Agencies]

Benedict delivered his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" speech - Latin for "to the city and to the world" - from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, blessing thousands of people gathered in the square below under a brilliant winter sun.

Wearing gold-embroidered vestments and a bejeweled bishops' hat, or miter, Benedict urged the crowd to rejoice over the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth, which he said he hoped would bring consolation to all people "who live in the darkness of poverty, injustice and war."

He mentioned in particular those living in the "tortured regions" of Darfur, Somalia, northern Congo, the Eritrea-Ethiopia border, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Balkans.

"May the child Jesus bring relief to those who are suffering and may he bestow upon political leaders the wisdom and courage to seek and find humane, just and lasting solutions," he said.

Beyond those conflicts, Benedict said he was turning his thoughts this Christmas to victims of other injustices, citing women, children and the elderly, as well as refugees and victims of environmental disasters and religious and ethnic tensions.

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