Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

The BBC ... January 1, 2013

Pope's new year address deplores rampant capitalism

Pope Benedict XVI has condemned 'unregulated capitalism' for contributing to world tension, in a new year address to worshippers.

The Pope also thanked the world's peacemakers and said humanity had 'an innate vocation for peace'.

The Roman Catholic Church leader spoke at a Mass in the Vatican, then greeted a crowd outside St Peter's Basilica.

He deplored 'hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor'.

Those 'hotbeds' also grew out of 'the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism', as well as 'various forms of terrorism and crime', he said.

The 85-year-old pontiff delivered a prayer for peace to the crowd in St Peter's Square after his homily at Mass.

'The peacemakers are many, but they are not loud. As leaven in dough, they raise humanity according to God's plan,' he said.

Comparing the new year to a journey, he prayed that it 'may lead on a path to peace for every person and every family, for each country and for the whole world'.

In his New Year's message, Pope Benedict XVI said that he hoped 2013 would be a year of peace and that the world was under threat from unbridled capitalism, terrorism and criminality.

The 85-year-old pope rang in the new year with a mass for about 10,000 people in St Peter's Basilica on the day the Roman Catholic Church marks its World Day of Peace with initiatives around the world.

He also spoke of peace after the mass, addressing tens of thousands of people who had followed the service from outside in St Peter's Square.

'A new year is like a trip. With the light and the grace of God, may it be the start of a path to peace for every person, every family, every country and for the entire world,' he said from his window overlooking the square.