VATICAN CITY, Dec 25: War and economic hardship loomed over Christmas celebrations across the world on Thursday, with Pope Benedict XVI denouncing greed and pleading for an end to violence in the Middle East.

The pontiff lamented that “the horizon seems once again bleak for Israelis and Palestinians,” and he decried the conflicts and poverty plaguing Africa.

“May the divine light of Bethlehem radiate throughout the Holy Land, (bringing) forth rich fruit from the efforts of all those who (shun) the twisted logic of conflict and violence,” Pope Benedict XVI said in his traditional address in St Peter’s Square.

“This light ... is besought by the people of Zimbabwe, in Africa, trapped for all too long in a political and social crisis which, sadly, keeps worsening,” the pope said, watched by thousands in the huge square.

Benedict, whose message was also broadcast to millions worldwide, said “interminable sufferings are the tragic consequence of the lack of stability and peace” in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Somalia.

“Let us pray that peace will be established (in the Middle East), that hatred and violence will cease,” the pope said earlier during his midnight mass Christmas homily.

In the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ’s birthplace, thousands of Christians turned out in the largest numbers since the 2000 start of the Palestinian uprising, braving the cold to bring festive cheer to the troubled region.

Many prayed in the Church of the Nativity, where a grotto marks the spot where Christ is believed to have been born, while others gathered outside in Manger Square, where boy scout marching bands played hymns on bagpipes and drums.

Despite the messages of peace there were constant reminders of war and conflict in many parts of the world.

Some 150 Palestinian pilgrims waiting to leave Gaza to cross Israel to celebrate Christmas in the West Bank had a close call when a mortar bomb fell on the border terminal, the Israeli army said.

The missile fired by Palestinian militants inside Gaza fell on the Erez border but failed to explode, it said.

In Afghanistan, a British marine was shot dead in Helmand on Christmas Eve, and a US trooper was killed in an attack in the east of the country, officials said.

In Baghdad, nervous Iraqi Christians packed the little Church of the Virgin Mary of the Holy Heart in the heart of the capital to celebrate Christmas mass amid ongoing security concerns for the embattled minority community.

World leaders reflected on the economic hardship brought on by the worldwide credit crunch which has sparked recession and job losses.

“Our world will certainly fall apart ... if people look only to their own interests,” the pope said.

Queen Elizabeth II encouraged victims of the credit crunch not to “lie down and accept defeat” but to draw strength from loved ones in her annual Christmas message to the Commonwealth.

US president-elect Barack Obama urged Americans to put their shoulder to the “wheel of history” to forge brighter days from the misery of economic crisis, and paid tribute to the thousands of US soldiers stationed overseas.—AFP