Pat Dollard

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VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI urged loyal Catholics in China and Iraq to have courage in the face of persecution and limits on their religious freedom, as the largest number of pilgrims in a decade flocked to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem.

Benedict’s traditional holiday speech highlighted the tensions between Beijing and the Vatican and the dangers facing minority Christians in Iraq, where militants have used violent attacks to try to drive them out of the country.

“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 but, persevering in fidelity to Christ and his church, may keep alive the flame of hope,” Benedict prayed.

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 promote China’s state-backed church.

Chinese church officials did not immediately comment late Saturday on the pope’s homily.

Speaking from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope told tourists and pilgrims in the rain-soaked square in Rome that people living in the world’s troublespots should take hope from the “comforting message” of Christmas.

Benedict prayed that Christmas would “ease the pain and bring consolation amid their trials to the beloved Christian communities in Iraq and in the Middle East.”

“May the light of Christmas shine forth anew in the land where Jesus was born, and inspire Israelis and Palestinians to strive for a just and peaceful coexistence,” Benedict said in his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” address (Latin for ‘to the city and to the world’).

In Baghdad, hundreds of Christians gathered at a church where Muslims took more than 120 people hostage in an October standoff that ended with 68 dead. Church walls were pockmarked with bullet holes, plastic sheeting hung instead of glass windows and flecks of dried flesh and blood still speckled the ceiling.

After the siege, about 1,000 Christian families fled to the relative safety of northern Iraq, according to U.N. estimates.

“No matter how hard the storms blows, love will save us,” Archbishop Matti Shaba Matouka told the worshippers.

The pope also expressed hope that Christmas might inspire more respect for human rights in Afghanistan and Pakistan.