Pope Makes Christmas Appeal for Children

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Christmas Midnight Mass with an appeal for abused children around the world, including child soldiers, beggars and others deprived of sustenance and love.

"The child of Bethlehem directs our gaze toward all children who suffer and are abused in the world, the born and the unborn," Benedict said in his homily, referring to the church's stand against abortion.

In celebrating Christmas which is Jesus' birth, he said we should direct our thoughts toward children forced to serve "as soldiers in a violent world, toward children who have to beg, toward children who suffer deprivation and hunger, toward children who are unloved.

"Let us pray this night that the brightness of God's love may enfold all these children," the pontiff said. "Let us ask God to help us do our part so that the dignity of children may be respected."

The pope began the Midnight Mass, broadcast to 44 nations, with a call for peace in Latin: "Pax vobis" ("Peace be with you). The faithful responded: "Et cum spiritu tuo." ("And also with you.")