Pope Makes a Plea for Mideast Peace in His Outdoor Christmas Mass

VATICAN CITY —  Pope John Paul II, nearing the end of a demanding Holy Year schedule in the twilight of his long reign, celebrated Christmas with an unusual outdoor midnight Mass and an appeal for a halt to Israeli-Palestinian violence in the land of Jesus’ birth.

“I think with concern of the holy places, and especially of the town of Bethlehem, where, sadly, because of the troubled political situation, the evocative rites of Christmas cannot be celebrated with their usual solemnity,” the pope told about 50,000 worshipers early today at the rain-soaked celebration in St. Peter’s Square.

John Paul recalled “with deep emotion” his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in March, six months before the current fighting erupted. With the combatants turning to the United States for mediation, the pope uses nearly every public appearance these days to urge a cease-fire.

“Lord, hear our plea!” he said in his homily. “From this square, the center of the Catholic world, let the angels’ proclamation to the shepherds ring out once more with new strength: ‘Glory to God in the highest heavens and peace on Earth to those whom he loves.’ ”

Since well before John Paul’s papacy began 22 years ago, popes have celebrated Christmas Eve Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, which can hold 8,000 worshipers. In recent years, giant television screens have enabled larger numbers to follow the Mass from the square outside.

John Paul broke that tradition today and mounted an outdoor altar under a canopy. Vatican officials said the ailing 80-year-old pontiff preferred visual contact with all the worshipers, even at the risk of catching cold during the 100-minute service on a mild but wet night.

“His act of coming out to the people tonight is symbolic of our hope that the church will open herself more to the world’s people during the new century,” said Father Philip Mathew, an Indian-born missionary priest in Nagoya, Japan, who led 10 Japanese Catholics to Rome for the Mass.

Some worshipers called loved ones at home on cellular phones during the service. Others posed for photographs before a towering Christmas tree whose presentation to the Vatican this month by Joerg Haider, a far-right political leader from Austria, had set off violent protests a few blocks away.

Throughout the day Sunday, pilgrims came to a creche in the square with gifts, including a sleeping bag left by a homeless man and a shirt from soccer superstar Gabriel Batistuta. The pope delivered a midday message from his apartment above St. Peter’s, reminding Roman Catholics that Jesus was born in poverty and encouraging them to remember the poor.

City officials estimate that 24.2 million pilgrims and tourists, about triple the norm, will have visited Rome during the Roman Catholic Holy Year, which began last Christmas Eve and will end with the Feast of the Epiphany on Jan. 6.

John Paul has presided so far over 25 special Holy Year Masses for broad categories of pilgrims who have flocked here from around the world--including children, the elderly, the disabled, athletes, scientists, politicians and entertainers.

Despite advancing symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, which often cause his body to tremble and his speech to slur, the pope has not this year missed a single general audience. These are held Wednesdays, and he has added some on Saturdays to accommodate the record flood of pilgrims.

The Vatican has celebrated Holy Years about every quarter of a century for 700 years, and this one, marking 2,000 years since Jesus’ birth, has been the most ambitious of all. As John Paul’s health deteriorated throughout the late 1990s, many Vatican watchers had wondered aloud whether the pope could live to see Holy Year 2000--much less manage its taxing schedule.

John Paul suggested in his Christmas homily that the transcendence of the occasion had pulled him through.

“Today is born our savior,” he said, speaking Italian in a clear, steady voice to the midnight crowd. “This proclamation, with its inexhaustible power to renew us, echoes once more on this holy night with special force.”

Seeking to hush speculation that John Paul will wind down or even retire soon after the Holy Year, the Vatican has outlined an itinerary of yet more papal globe-trotting, public liturgies, canonizations, synods and speechmaking in 2001.

Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls says John Paul is expected to appoint about 25 new cardinals in the next month or so; travel to Syria, Ukraine, Armenia and possibly Greece, Poland and Brazil; preside over a worldwide Synod of Bishops in October; and resume two activities that were suspended for the Holy Year--regular consultations with visiting bishops and weekend visits to Rome parishes.

The schedule leaves no room for a breather. The morning after closing the Holy Year, John Paul is scheduled to say Mass in the Sistine Chapel and baptize about 20 babies born during 2000.