The celebration of Christmas commenced last night at the Vatican in Rome, where Pope Benedict XV delivered his yearly holiday address from St. Peter's Cathedral in the Eternal City. Within the pontiff's blessings and hopes for the New Year came condemnation of the continued commercialization of Christmas and the spread of intense greed and avarice that has afflicted the population of the planet, creating a nightmarish global economic meltdown, violence in the streets and social unrest the likes the world has not witnessed in recent memory.
"Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light,' the 84-year-old pontiff said to the massive crowd that gathered to hear his speech. On Thursday, Pope Benedict said that he believed the current economic plight facing Europe and much of the world was largely "based on the ethical crisis looming over the Old Continent."
The Mass had been moved up from its traditional midnight to 10 o'clock PM so that the Pope would be rested to deliver a second mass on Christmas Morning. The Christmas Morning speech traditionally deals with the current problems facing the world. It is expected that the Pope will address the current economic crisis as well as the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements taking place across the globe.
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