Catholic college engages atheism head-on

TORONTO (RNS) Talk about an unlikely course in an unlikely place.

The main chapel at Jesuit-run Regis College at the University of Toronto is adorned with stained glass windows, icons of Mary and Joseph, and the Stations of the Cross.

The eight-week course, which meets every Wednesday afternoon, is on atheism. Or more precisely, “Responding to 21st-Century Atheism.”

It’s an attempt, says the Rev. Scott Lewis, for people of faith to understand and come to terms with the increasingly muscular secularism and atheism that has arisen in Western societies over the past generation. RNS photo by Ron Csillag

It’s an attempt, says the Rev. Scott Lewis, for people of faith to understand and come to terms with the increasingly muscular secularism and atheism that has arisen in Western societies over the past generation.

Atheism “has become militant, aggressive and proselytizing,” said Lewis, a Jesuit scripture scholar, who teaches the class with three other scholars. “It’s made great in-roads and is now socially acceptable. If you’re young and educated and believe in God, you’re (seen as) a jerk.”

While the course examines the increasing polarization between non-believers and people of faith, it will not be about confronting secularists or engaging in polemics, Lewis stressed before the first class of about 155 students in the adult-education program.

Both sides need to lighten up, he said.

“One idea for atheists to leave behind is that people who believe are stupid or naive,” Lewis suggested. “And perhaps we should leave behind the idea that an atheist is someone who is not ethical or a good person.

“A person can be a believer and be quite intelligent. A person can be an atheist and be quite a morally upright person.”

It’s the first time in memory that a Catholic academic institution in Canada has formally explored non-belief, but it nonetheless reflects the times. Five universities in the U.S. have secular humanist chaplains, and the University of Toronto now has two.

“I think it’s very natural to offer this course,” said one of the two Toronto chaplains, Mary Beaty. “Universities are encountering more and more students asking these types of questions.”

A study last autumn by the Pew Research Center found the number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace: One-fifth of the U.S. public, and a third of adults under 30, are religiously unaffiliated today, “the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.”

The study found that in the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15 percent to just under 20 percent of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6 percent of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation.

Other polls have suggested that as many as one in 10 U.S. adults are atheists.

Canadian census data show that atheists, agnostics, humanists and those with no religious affiliation account for 16 percent of the population, up 4 percentage points over the previous decade. They now represent the second-largest religious group in the country.

A Canadian Ipsos Reid poll released in 2011 found 30 percent of respondents did not believe in a deity.

However one parses the numbers, nonbelievers are undoubtedly getting bolder and even celebrated, as evidenced by best-seller lists in recent years. Lewis and other instructors conceded they will find it hard to avoid mentioning “New Atheist” authors Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, but said they would not dwell on the trio.

Lewis said he’ll look at both sides of the debate. “What we will be focusing on is our response to individuals who have thrown down the gauntlet and say ‘To believe in God is not to be believe in science, and to believe in science is not to believe in God.’”

“There’s a little fundamentalism on both sides of the aisle.”

Central to the course will be the question of suffering — “the oldest religious question in the world,” Lewis said. “Why, if there’s a good God, do we have suffering, especially of the innocent?”

As for science and Darwinism, the biblical book of Genesis “is not a science book and should not be read as one. Our faith does not rise and fall on the age of the Earth.” And people of faith are at a threshold moment: “We cannot continue thinking of God in traditional ways and still accept Darwinian science.”

Lewis said it’s not uncommon for Catholic thinkers to believe in evolution. The course will include the work of the Rev. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest who was also trained as a paleontologist and geologist. Teilhard de Chardin accepted Darwinism as fact as early as the 1930s, but his writings were condemned by the Vatican.

The course comprises two lectures from Lewis; a look at psychology and atheism from Jesuit psychologist Rev. Joe Schner, who will examine whether the human brain is hard-wired for religion; an examination of suffering by Michael Stoeber, who told the introductory class that the “New Atheists” tend to overemphasize “the underbelly of the Catholic Church”; and a theological and philosophical perspective from Jesuit Gordon Rixon.

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Quote of the Day: Turkish Cultural Community of Austria

(RNS) “The terrorist Jabba the Hutt likes to smoke a hookah and have his victims killed. It is clear that the ugly figure of Jabba and the whole scene smacks of racial prejudice and vulgar insinuations against Asians and Orientals as people with deceitful and criminal personalities.”

- The Turkish Cultural Community of Austria, in a statement quoted by The Telegraph, about a Lego toy set of Jabba the Hutt’s palace that the Muslims say looks too much like the revered Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul.

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Isolation leads British Muslims to act like ‘idiots’

LONDON (RNS) The increasing isolation of Britain’s Muslim community is leading to stepped-up attacks against Muslims and a sense that Muslims can act like “idiots” against outsiders in some parts of the city, British government and Muslim leaders say.

Parts of London’s East End have turned into Muslims-only zones, they say, where gays and lesbians are harassed, men are forced to pour alcoholic drinks down the gutter and women have been ordered to cover their bare skin.

That has helped widen the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims, said Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Britain’s Minister for Faith and Communities, and led to a “slippery slope” that enables extremists on both sides to advance “their twisted interests unchecked.”

“I believe an attack on a Muslim is an attack on a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu or a Sikh,” she said Thursday (Jan. 24)

Muslim religious leaders, too, are concerned about the fundamentalists who have carved out Muslims-only ghettos.

“They’re idiots and they must be stopped now,” said Fiyaz Mughal, director of the London-based Faith Matters organization. “This helps fuel anger and racial and religious prejudice. You can also call them fascists.”

Warsi called for updated statistics on anti-Muslim hate crimes, and endorsed a new “Anti-Muslim Attacks” campaign organized by Mughal.

Posters telling Muslims to report hate crimes to the police are going up in all of Britain’s main towns and cities.

Last year, the government’s Home Office reported 43,748 hate crimes; 1,621 (4 percent ) were based on religion. The government does not break down the figures to show which faiths came under attack.

Warsi cited a recent YouGov opinion survey which showed that 77 percent of Britons believe Islam poses a threat to Western civilization, and 76 percent believe Muslims do not fit in with the British way of life.

Mughal said while it is important to condemn hate crimes against Muslims, it is equally important to expose the activities of Islamic isolationists, like a small group in London’s Whitechapel area who are trying to impose their values on other people.

“They claim they live in Muslim parts of London,” he said. “One of these idiots was speaking outside a mosque which just happens to be almost next door to a synagogue. Some Muslim area.”

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Catholic hospital under fire for saying fetuses aren’t ‘people’

(RNS) A Catholic hospital in Colorado has argued in court documents that it is not liable for the deaths of twin 7-month-old fetuses because those fetuses are not people under state law.

So far, courts have side with the hospital, but that defense contradicts Catholic teaching that human life is sacred from the moment of conception.

The issue of whether a fetus is a person was raised in a lawsuit filed by Jeremy Stodghill, whose 31-year-old wife, Lori, died in 2006 at St. Thomas More Hospital in Canon City, Colo.

Lori Stodghill was 7 months pregnant with twins at the time. The suit claims the hospital failed to perform an emergency cesarean section to save the fetuses.

According to published reports, a brief filed by the hospital, owned by Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives, said that the fetuses are not covered by state’s Wrongful Death Act.

“Under Colorado law, a fetus is not a ‘person’ and plaintiff’s claims for wrongful death must therefore be dismissed,” the hospital argued.

A state district court and an appeals court agreed with the hospital. The case, originally filed in 2007, is currently on appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court.

Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land said the hospital failed to live up to its pro-life principles. “There’s a difference between being legal and being right,” Land said. “Either a fetus is a person or it’s not.”

Catholic Heath Initiatives, which runs 78 hospitals in 14 states, would not comment on the specifics on the lawsuit. But the organization said in a statement that it follows Catholic teaching.

“First and foremost, our heartfelt sympathies have always been with the Stodghill family as a result of these tragic circumstances,” the statement said. “In this case, St. Thomas More, Centura Health and Catholic Health Initiatives, as Catholic organizations, are in union with the moral teachings of the Church.”

The three Catholic bishops in Colorado said Thursday (Jan. 24) that they’d recently learned of the death of Lori Stodghill and her two unborn children and expressed their condolences.

“We wish to extend our solidarity and sympathy to Lori’s husband, Jeremy, and her daughter, Elizabeth. Please be assured of our ongoing prayers,” said Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver, Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, and Bishop Fernando Isern of Pueblo in a statement.

The bishops said they could not comment on ongoing legal disputes. But they said they will review the litigation and policies of Catholic Health Initiatives to ensure they conform with Catholic teaching.

“Catholics and Catholic institutions have the duty to protect and foster human life, and to witness to the dignity of the human person — particularly to the dignity of the unborn,” the bishops said. “No Catholic institution may legitimately work to undermine fundamental human dignity.”

News about the suit comes at an awkward time for Catholic leaders who oppose abortion.

Many will take part in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Friday. As many as 10,000 people were expected to attend the Opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life in Washington on Thursday night.

Catholic dioceses in Tennessee, New York, and Pennsylvania are also suing the federal government over the contraceptive mandate for employers. Those Catholic groups say the mandate violates their religious beliefs about the sanctity of life.

In 2010, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix lost its standing as a Catholic hospital after doctors there performed an abortion they believed was needed to save a mother’s life. Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix said the hospital should have followed Catholic teaching, which bans any direct abortion.

Amy Haddad, director of the Center for Health Policy and Ethics at Jesuit-run Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., said that in the Phoenix case, church leaders said there was no room for compromising Catholic teaching.

In Colorado, another hospital seems to be ignoring church teaching as well, she said.

“That inconsistency is morally troubling,” she said. “It demands more of an explanation than the letter of the law.”

The Colorado lawsuit isn’t the first time that a Catholic hospital has argued that it is not liable for the death of a fetus. In 1996, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that a mother could not sue St. Vincent’s Medical Center of Jacksonville over the death of her unborn child.

William Kuntz, St. Vincent’s trial attorney, defended the hospital’s stance at the time.

“We’ve never contended that a fetus is not a person,” Kuntz told the Orlando Sentinel in 1996. “We’ve always said that an unborn person does not have the right to bring a lawsuit in Florida.”

(Bob Smietana writes for USA Today and The Tennessean in Nashville.)

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Friday’s Religion News Roundup: Jabba’s mosque * ‘Proof’ of rape * Real pastor’s wives of Atlanta

Lego’s “Jabba’s Palace” play set has irked some Turkish Muslims, who say it looks disturbingly like the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul. Photo courtesy Lego.

Favorite story of the day: A group of Turkish Muslims are ticked off at Lego — who could be ticked off at Lego? — over a Star Wars set of Jabba the Hutt’s palace that they say mimics the revered Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul. OK, Hagia Sophia isn’t technically a mosque, but it was after it was a church and before it was a museum. Either way, they’re ticked.

It’s the annual March for Life against abortion here in town today, and the pope sent a sympathetic tweet: “I join all those marching for life from afar, and pray that political leaders will protect the unborn and promote a culture of life.”

Speaking of papal tweets, the Vatican said it knew that allowing B16 to dabble in social media was a risk, but “what the pope wants is to be where today’s men and women are.”

Most interesting story of the day: a Catholic hospital in Colorado is under fire for trying to win a wrongful death lawsuit by claiming that fetuses are not people. The state’s bishops, not surprisingly, have a lot to say about that.

Next door in New Mexico, a state lawmaker has filed a bill to force rape and incest victims to continue their pregnancies so they can show “proof” of a crime. Obtaining an abortion, GOP state Rep. Cathrynn Brown says, would amount to “destruction of evidence.”

That Pennsylvania church that staged a mock kidnapping of a youth group and scared the bejeezus out of a 14-year-old girl will pay a $10,000 fine and its youth pastor will do community service under a plea deal reached yesterday.

Across the state in Erie, a federal judge said it’s too early for the Diocese of Erie to challenge the Obama administration’s contraception mandate in court, telling them they have to wait until the law officially kicks in a year from now.

From the Dept. of Good for Them, the independent National Catholic Reporter has refused to submit its “Catholic bona fides” to the local bishop, Robert Finn (he who was convicted for not reporting a known abuser to police). We tried and failed to find the original, so take this blog for what it’s worth.

The secessionist Episcopalians in South Carolina get to keep the “Episcopal” name in the Palmetto State, at least for now, according to a state judge.

TLC has managed to come up with yet another religion-based reality show: “The Sisterhood,” about a group of Atlanta-area preachers’ wives.

Headed to Providence, R.I.? Better pack your Bible because apparently there aren’t too many Good Books there. Here’s our breezy tour through the other least “Bible-minded” cities in the U.S. of A.

The Mennonite pastor at the center of that transnational lesbian custody case (did you follow all that?) was jailed for refusing to testify in court, citing his “religious beliefs.” That’s on top of the sentence he’s already accrued for his role in the case.

All of those I’ve-been-to-heaven-and-where’s-what-it’s-like memoirs are big business for publishers.

No plans for tomorrow? Head down to Atlanta for the strangely named “Heads Meeting” where atheist and secular leaders will try to map out a path forward to organize their disparate (and growing) networks.

Remember the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India that included a Chabad Jewish center? Pakistani-born (and American citizen) David Coleman Headley was sentenced to 35 years for his role in the attacks, less than the life sentence some victims were pushing for.

The Dalai Lama doesn’t want the death penalty for the five men accused in that brutal gang rape case in India.

You’ve heard all the talk about Britain’s testy relationship with the EU lately? Here’s another wrinkle: If gay marriage is approved, the education minister can’t guarantee that teachers will be able to oppose gay marriage without facing the threat of being fired by the European Court of Human Rights.

And with that, it’s off to the weekend, but before you go, make sure you’ve subscribed to the daily Roundup below so we can meet again on Monday:

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Quote of the Day: The Rev. Susan Russell of All Saint’s Church in Pasadena, Calif.

(RNS) “He’s like the Joe Biden of the Episcopal Church. He has the personality and respect that can bring people together.”

- The Rev. Susan Russell, an Episcopal priest at All Saint’s Church in Pasadena, Calif., Pasadena, describing the Very Rev. Gary Hall, the new dean of Washington National Cathedral, who previously worked at her church. She was quoted by The Washington Post.

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Video: 2013 March for Life

Throngs of anti-abortion activists gathered on the National Mall Friday (Jan. 25) for a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion. After speeches by new March for Life President Jeanne Monahan and political and religious leaders, they marched to the steps of the high court. RNS video and photos by Adelle M. Banks, edited by Sally Morrow.

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Petition urges White House to classify Westboro church as hate group

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 475,000 people have signed petitions asking the White House to crack down on Westboro Baptist Church after the group, known for holding anti-gay demonstrations at funerals, threatened to picket in Newtown, Connecticut.

Newtown was the site of a school massacre on December 14 in which 20 young children and six adults were killed.

Five petitions posted on the White House website since the shootings have asked the government to name the church, based in Topeka, Kansas, as a hate group or end its tax-exempt status. The requests were among the most popular on the White House site on Thursday.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization, has called the church "arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America" because of the anti-gay signs its members have carried at hundreds of military funerals. The protests reflect their view that God is punishing America for tolerance of gays and lesbians.

The church has successfully defended its right to free speech in court. The church could not be immediately reached for comment.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether it would address the petitions.

The White House has a policy of responding to petitions that reach a threshold of 25,000 signatures but does not comment on certain law enforcement issues that are within the jurisdiction of federal agencies or courts, according to its website.

Obama last week asked Americans to pressure Congress to help tighten gun laws. He responded after several hundred thousand people signed a dozen petitions calling for tougher gun laws following the Newtown attack.

Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza used a military-style assault rifle to kill 20 elementary school children and seven adults, including his mother shot earlier at the family home, then he took his own life.

Obama has called for Congress to approve a ban on the sale of military-style assault weapons and a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips, as well as measures to ensure background checks for gun purchases at gun shows.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Peter Rudegeair; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Italians, backed by the Catholic Church, aim to stop Sunday shopping

Italians are fighting a government lift of regulations on business operation hours, insisting that the move will eventually hurt the small shops and values that have long been the foundation of the Italian business community.

The deregulation, put into effect January 2012, removes restrictions on business operating hours, including Sundays and holidays. It is intended to stimulate competition in what has traditionally been a highly regulated market. However, it has been vehemently criticized by many shop owners, and the campaign against it has received a boost from the powerful Catholic Church.

Campaign organizers argue that working on Sunday has forced employees to sacrifice "important values" and benefited big companies at the expense of small businesses.

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Headed by Confesercenti, a leading retailers’ business association, and backed by the powerful Italian Bishops Conference, the campaign began at the end of November. Its organizers are hoping to collect the 50,000 signatures required to submit a bill to Parliament by April. The bill would give regions – rather than the national Parliament – the power to regulate Sunday openings. The goal of the bill isn’t to outlaw opening on Sundays but to eliminate “the excesses” brought by deregulation, say organizers.

If it gets the signatures, the bill would most likely be examined after the February election.

“People say: ‘It’s nice to have shops open on Sunday.’ But I don’t make extra sales on Sunday,” says Aldina Orlandini, who has run a clothing shop in a busy downtown street in Reggio Emilia, an affluent town near Bologna, since 1978.

Ms. Orlandini says deregulation hasn't hurt her business, since her store can count on a steady pool of customers. Still, she says, the measure is just wrong.

“People have the right to rest one day per week. Am I not a human being? Don’t I have a family?” Orlandini says. “The law should mandate a day off.”

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But for Mauro Bussoni, the vice director of Confesercenti and the coordinator of the “Free Sunday” campaign, the problem is more systemic. “This measure favors certain retailers,” he says.

Deregulation hasn’t increased sales, and it has only increased costs for small businesses, since putting together shifts during the holidays is easier for big stores, which are more able to pay the extra costs, including overtime, Mr. Bussoni argues.

Bussoni says he fears that without regulation of the days and hours stores can operate, a competition will emerge in which only the fittest survive at the expense of mom-and-pop operations, which are already being hit hard by the recession. Istat, Italy’s statistics bureau, recently reported that retail sales for October 2012 were 3.8 percent lower than in October 2011. The process, he says, would change the face of Italian cities, threatening the quality of life of people, such as senior citizens, who rely on neighborhood stores.

The campaign’s organizers argue it’s more than a matter of competing business models, but defending the right of workers and shop owners to spend time with their families.

“On Sunday, leave us alone,” says Mina Giannandrea, a shop owner and the president of FEDERstrade, a Rome retailers’ association that’s also participating in the campaign. “People who shop on Sunday are selfish; they don’t think about those who have to work on Sunday,” Ms. Giannandrea says.

The importance of family time is the message that has perhaps resonated the most with the Catholic Church, which has thrown its support behind the campaign.

“Freedom without truth, without a higher end is mere caprice,” said Archbishop Giancarlo Bregantini, stressing the importance of a day of rest as mandated by the Bible in an interview with Vatican Radio.

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Supporters of deregulation emphasize the freedom it gives consumers – a different notion of freedom than that embraced by the Confesercenti campaign. Deregulation has given customers the ability to make purchases whenever it suits them, and stores should take advantage of this during the economic downturn, says Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, the president of Federdistribuzione, an association of Italian retail chains.

“It’s not a matter of staying open 24/7, as some have self-interestedly suggested,” Mr. Cobolli Gigli says, adding that in many cases Sunday shifts are covered by workers who volunteer to get overtime, and that the increased store hours could eventually create a demand for new, part-time weekend jobs.

To think that small shops must stay open as much as chains at all costs is a mistake, says Serena Sileoni, a fellow at the pro-market think tank Istituto Bruno Leoni. Deregulation could be an opportunity for shop owners to design a schedule based on their customers’ needs and to find a profitable niche. This could ultimately lead to changes in the way Italian cities look, she argues.

“Cities are already different from how they used to be,” Ms. Sileoni says.

Andrea Moro, a professor of economics at Vanderbilt University, says markets are always working to respond to innovation, which often comes hand-in-hand with the destruction of old ideas or traditions.

While Mr. Moro is sympathetic to the challenges faced by retail workers, he says he can think of only one path for them: “In the modern economic structure, workers must reinvent themselves, no one excluded. Thankfully, these people still have jobs and they must adapt to the new working conditions,” he says.

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Dixon, 2nd female bishop in Episcopal Church, dies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jane Holmes Dixon, who became a priest in her late 40s and later became the second female bishop in the Episcopal Church, has died. She was 75.

The Diocese of Washington confirmed that Dixon died early Christmas morning at her Washington home.

Dixon served as bishop pro tempore of the Washington Diocese in 2001 and 2002. Her tenure included a standoff with a parish whose rector refused to recognize female clergy. She filed a federal lawsuit against the pastor that was resolved in her favor.

Dixon was a stay-at-home mother when she enrolled at Virginia Theological Seminary at age 40. She became the pastor of a church in Laurel, Md., in 1982.

She was elected bishop suffragan, the second-highest rank among bishops, for the Washington diocese in 1992.

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Pope's Christmas message says hope mustn't die in Syria, Nigeria

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict used his Christmas message to the world on Tuesday to say people should never lose hope for peace, even in conflict-riven Syria and in Nigeria where he spoke of "terrorism" against Christians.

Marking the eighth Christmas season of his pontificate, the 85-year-old read his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message to tens of thousands of people in St Peter's Square and to millions of others watching around the world.

Delivering Christmas greetings in 65 languages, Benedict used the Biblical analogy of the "good soil" to underscore his view that the hope represented by Christmas should never die, even in the most dire situations.

"This good earth exists, and today too, in 2012, from this earth truth has sprung up! Consequently, there is hope in the world, a hope in which we can trust, even at the most difficult times and in the most difficult situations," he said.

In his virtual tour of the some of the world's trouble spots, he reserved his toughest words for Syria, Nigeria and Mali.

"Yes, may peace spring up for the people of Syria, deeply wounded and divided by a conflict which does not spare even the defenseless and reaps innocent victims," he said.

"Once again I appeal for an end to the bloodshed, easier access for the relief of refugees and the displaced, and dialogue in the pursuit of a political solution to the conflict."

The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics also condemned conflicts in Mali and Nigeria, two countries where Islamist groups have waged violent campaigns.

"May the birth of Christ favor the return of peace in Mali and that of concord in Nigeria, where savage acts of terrorism continue to reap victims, particularly among Christians," he said.

CHURCH BOMBINGS

In Nigeria, the Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed hundreds in its campaign to impose sharia law in the north of the country, targeting a number of churches.

In Mali, a mix of Islamists with links to al Qaeda have occupied the country's north since April, destroying much of the region's religious heritage. They have also carried out amputations to help impose strict Islamic law on a population that has practiced a more moderate form of Islam for centuries.

Benedict also held out a Christmas olive branch to the new government in China, asking is members to "esteem the contributions of religions". China does not allow its Catholics to recognize the pope's authority, forcing them to be members of a parallel state-backed Church.

Late on Monday night, Benedict presided over a Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter's Basilica, where he urged people to find room for God in their fast-paced lives filled with the latest technological gadgets.

"Do we have time and space for him? Do we not actually turn away God himself? We begin to do so when we have no time for him," he said.

"The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full," he said.

He said societies had reached the point where many people's thinking processes did not leave any room even for the existence of God.

"There is no room for him. Not even in our feelings and desires is there any room for him. We want ourselves. We want what we can seize hold of, we want happiness that is within our reach, we want our plans and purposes to succeed. We are so 'full' of ourselves that there is no room left for God."

(Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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The Pope Isn't Likely to Get His Christmas Wish for Peace This Year

During his annual Christmas address at the Vatican this year, the Pope prayed for peace in Syria, something that doesn't look likely any time soon. Pope Benedict XVI specifically called for an end to the violence on Syria's "defenseless" people, who have been caught in the middle of the fighting throughout this conflict. Like two days ago, for example, when Syrian troops bombed a line of people waiting for bread, during a food shortage the civil war has brought. "I appeal for an end to the bloodshed, easier access for the relief of refugees and the displaced, and dialogue in the pursuit of a political solution to the conflict," he said, also asking for "freedom" in China. 

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In addition to the increasing violence, recent peace efforts have failed. The special U.N. envoy that met with President Bashar al-Assad yesterday reported no progress in halting the conflict, report The Los Angeles Times's Ned Parker and Lava Selo. And unfortunately, sources described it to The New York Times's Kareem Fahim and Hala Droub as a "final proposal" to end the conflict, leaving Assad now to decide his fate for himself. No matter the path he chooses, that sounds like a bloody end, too, as The New York Times's Anne Barnard and Hwaida Saad describe it.

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He can either stay, and fight for his cause, which leads to more of what we've seen, as the conflict has escalated. (Including possible gas-attacks.) If he tries to escape, it doesn't look likely that he will make it out without capture from either side. His own generals will want him to rally troops. Or, it could go the other way, and he will face death at the hands of his people. As Assad plots his next move, however, it doesn't look like the "defenseless" people will get respite from war, with reports of the bloodshed continuing. 

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Pope's Christmas message focuses on Mideast, China

VATICAN CITY (AP) — In his Christmas message to the world Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to the slaughter in Syria and for more meaningful negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, while encouraging more religious freedom under China's new leaders.

Delivering the traditional speech from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Benedict also encouraged Arab spring nations, especially Egypt, to build just and respectful societies.

The pope prayed that China's new leadership may "esteem the contribution of the religions, in respect for each other" to help build a "fraternal society for the benefit of that noble people."

It was a clear reference to the Chinese government's often harsh treatment of Catholics loyal to the pontiff instead of to the state-sanctioned church. Earlier this month, the Vatican refused to accept the decision by Chinese authorities to revoke the title of a Shanghai bishop, who had been appointed in a rare show of consensus between the Holy See and China.

As the 85-year-old pontiff, bundled up in an ermine-trimmed red cape, gingerly stepped foot on the balcony, the pilgrims, tourists and Romans below backing St. Peter's Square erupted in cheers.

Less than 12 hours earlier, Benedict had led a two-hour long Christmas Eve ceremony in the basilica. He sounded hoarse and looked weary as he read his Christmas message and then holiday greetings in 65 languages.

In his "Urbi et Orbi" speech, which traditionally reviews world events and global challenges, Benedict prayed that "peace spring up for the people of Syria, deeply wounded and divided by a conflict that does not spare even the defenseless and reaps innocent victims."

He called for easier access to help refugees and for "dialogue in the pursuit of a political solution to the conflict."

Benedict prayed that God "grant Israelis and Palestinians courage to end long years of conflict and division, and to embark resolutely on the path to negotiation."

Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the Palestinian statehood bid, saying it was a ploy to bypass negotiations, something the Palestinians deny. Talks stalled four years ago.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said that in a meeting with the pope last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "emphasized our total readiness to resume negotiations." The Palestinians have not dropped their demand that Israel first stop settlement activities before returning to the negotiating table.

Hours earlier, in the ancient Bethlehem church built over the site where tradition holds Jesus was born, candles illuminated the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filled its overflowing halls.

Overcast skies and a cold wind in the Holy Land didn't dampen the spirits of worshippers in the biblical West Bank town. Bells pealed and long lines formed inside the fourth-century Church of the Nativity complex as Christian faithful waited to see the grotto that is Jesus' traditional birthplace.

Duncan Hardock, 24, a writer from MacLean, Virginia, traveled to Bethlehem from the republic of Georgia, where he had been teaching English. After passing through the separation barrier Israel built to ward off West Bank attackers, he walked to Bethlehem's Manger Square where the church stands.

"I feel we got to see both sides of Bethlehem in a really short period of time," Hardock said. "On our walk from the wall, we got to see the lonesome, closed side of Bethlehem ... But the moment we got into town, we're suddenly in the middle of the party."

Bethlehem lies 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Jerusalem. Entry to the city is controlled by Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967.

For those who couldn't fit into the cavernous Bethlehem church, a loudspeaker outside broadcast the Christmas day service to hundreds of faithful in the square.

Their Palestinian hosts, who welcome this holiday as the high point of their city's year, were especially joyous this season, proud of the United Nations' recognition of an independent state of Palestine just last month.

"From this holy place, I invite politicians and men of good will to work with determination for peace and reconciliation that encompasses Palestine and Israel in the midst of all the suffering in the Middle East," said the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal in his annual address.

Back at the Vatican, Benedict offered encouragement to countries after the Arab spring of democracy protests. He had a special word for Egypt, "blessed by the childhood of Jesus."

Without citing the tumultuous politics and clashes in the region, he urged the North African region to build societies "founded on justice and respect for the dignity of every person."

Benedict prayed for the return of peace in Mali and harmony in Nigeria, where, he recalled "savage acts of terrorism continue to reap victims, particularly among Christians."

The Vatican for decades has been worried about the well-being of its flock in China, who are loyal to the pope in defiance of the communist's government support of an officially sponsored church, and relations between Beijing and the Holy See are often tense.

Speaking about China's newly installed regime leaders, Benedict expressed hope that "they will esteem the contribution of the religions, in respect for each other, in such a way that they can help to build a fraternal society for the benefit of that noble people and of the whole world."

Acknowledging Latin America's predominant Christian population, he urged government leaders to carry out commitments to development and to fighting organized crime.

In Britain, the royal family was attending Christmas Day church services at St. Mary Magdelene Church on Queen Elizabeth II's sprawling Sandringham estate, though there were a few notable absences. Prince William is spending the holiday with his pregnant wife Kate and his in-laws in the southern England village of Bucklebury, while Prince Harry is serving with British troops in Afghanistan.

Later Tuesday, the queen delivered her traditional, prerecorded Christmas message, which for the first time was broadcast in 3D.

At Canterbury cathedral, Anglican leader Rowan Williams delivered his final Christmas day sermon as archbishop of Canterbury. He acknowledged how the church's General Synod's vote against allowing women to become bishops had cost credibility and said the faithful felt a "real sense of loss" over the decision.

In the U.S., the Rev. Jesse Jackson brought his message of anti-violence and gun control to a Chicago jail, using his traditional Christmas Day sermon at the facility to challenge inmates to help get guns off the streets.

"We've all been grieving about the violence in Newtown, Connecticut, the last few days," he told reporters after addressing inmates, referring to the Dec. 14 school shooting that killed 26 children and adults. "Most of those here today ... have either shot somebody or been shot. We're recruiting them to help us stop the flow of guns."

In Newtown, well-wishers from around the U.S. showed up on Christmas morning to hang ornaments on a series of memorial Christmas trees while police officers from around Connecticut took extra shifts to direct traffic and patrol the town to give local police a day off. In a 24-hour vigil, volunteers watched over 26 candles that had been lit at midnight in honor of those slain at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

At a town hall memorial, Faith Leonard waved to people driving by and handed out Christmas cookies, children's gifts and hugs to anyone who needed it.

"I guess my thought was if I could be here helping out maybe one person would be able to spend more time with their family or grieve in the way they needed to," said Leonard, who drove to Newtown from Gilbert, Arizona, to volunteer on Christmas morning.

At St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which eight of the child victims of the massacre attended, the Rev. Robert Weiss told parishioners that "today is the day we begin everything all over again."

"We know Christmas in a way we never ever thought we would know it," he said. "We need a little Christmas and we've been given it."

In a New York City neighborhood ravaged by Superstorm Sandy in late October, some holiday traditions had to go by the wayside, but Christmas was celebrated with a special sense of gratitude.

Midmorning and noon Masses were packed Tuesday at St. Francis De Sales Church in the Rockaways; the church only recently got heat restored after Sandy flooded its basement. The bells and organ still don't work, so St. Francis De Sales is making do with a keyboard for now.

"But nobody is feeling morose or down. They're just rebuilding their lives, keeping the faith and going forward," choir member Ed Quinn said. "It's not the best of circumstances, that's for sure. But we're making the best of it."

___

Dalia Nammari in Bethlehem, Cassandra Vinograd in London, Sophia Tareen in Chicago, Julie Walker in New York, and Brock Vergakis and Stephen Singer in Newtown, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

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Pope decries slaughter of 'defenseless' Syrians

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI wished Christmas peace to the world Tuesday, decrying the slaughter of the "defenseless" in Syria, urging Israelis and Palestinians to find the courage to negotiate and encouraging China's new leaders to allow more religious freedom.

Delivering the Vatican's traditional Christmas day message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Benedict also encouraged Arab spring nations, especially Egypt, to build just and respectful societies.

May China's new leadership "esteem the contribution of the religions, in respect for each other" to help build a "fraternal society for the benefit of that noble people," the pope prayed.

It was a clear reference to the Chinese government's often harsh treatment of Catholics loyal to the pontiff instead of to the state-sanctioned church. Earlier this month, the Vatican refused to accept the decision by Chinese authorities to revoke the title of a Shanghai bishop, who had been appointed in a rare show of consensus between the Holy See and China.

As the 85-year-old pontiff, bundled up in an ermine-trimmed red cape, gingerly stepped foot on the balcony, the pilgrims, tourists and Romans below backing St. Peter's Square erupted in cheers.

Less than 12 hours earlier, Benedict had led a two-hour long Christmas Eve ceremony in the basilica. He sounded hoarse and looked weary as he read his Christmas message and then holiday greetings in 65 languages.

In his "Urbi et Orbi" speech, which traditionally reviews world events and global challenges, Benedict prayed that "peace spring up for the people of Syria, deeply wounded and divided by a conflict that does not spare even the defenseless and reaps innocent victims."

He called for easier access to help refugees and for "dialogue in the pursuit of a political solution to the conflict."

Benedict prayed that God "grant Israelis and Palestinians courage to end long years of conflict and division, and to embark resolutely on the path to negotiation."

Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the Palestinian statehood bid, saying it was a ploy to bypass negotiations, something the Palestinians deny. Talks stalled four years ago.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said that in a meeting with the pope last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "emphasized our total readiness to resume negotiations." The Palestinians have not dropped their demand that Israel first stop settlement activities before returning to the negotiating table.

Hours earlier, in the ancient Bethlehem church built over the site where tradition holds Jesus was born, candles illuminated the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filled its overflowing halls.

Overcast skies and a cold wind in the Holy Land didn't dampen the spirits of worshippers in the biblical West Bank town. Bells pealed and long lines formed inside the fourth-century Church of the Nativity complex as Christian faithful waited to see the grotto that is Jesus' traditional birthplace.

Duncan Hardock, 24, a writer from MacLean, Va., traveled to Bethlehem from the republic of Georgia, where he had been teaching English. After passing through the separation barrier Israel built to ward off West Bank attackers, he walked to Bethlehem's Manger Square where the church stands.

"I feel we got to see both sides of Bethlehem in a really short period of time," Hardock said. "On our walk from the wall, we got to see the lonesome, closed side of Bethlehem ... But the moment we got into town, we're suddenly in the middle of the party."

Bethlehem lies 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Jerusalem. Entry to the city is controlled by Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967.

For those who couldn't fit into the cavernous Bethlehem church, a loudspeaker outside broadcast the Christmas day service to hundreds of faithful in the square.

Their Palestinian hosts, who welcome this holiday as the high point of their city's year, were especially joyous this season, proud of the United Nations' recognition of an independent state of Palestine just last month.

"From this holy place, I invite politicians and men of good will to work with determination for peace and reconciliation that encompasses Palestine and Israel in the midst of all the suffering in the Middle East," said the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal in his annual address.

Back at the Vatican, Benedict offered encouragement to countries after the Arab spring of democracy protests. He had a special word for Egypt, "blessed by the childhood of Jesus."

Without citing the tumultuous politics and clashes in the region, he urged the North African region to build societies "founded on justice and respect for the dignity of every person."

Benedict prayed for the return of peace in Mali and harmony in Nigeria, where, he recalled "savage acts of terrorism continue to reap victims, particularly among Christians."

The Vatican for decades has been worried about the well-being of its flock in China, who are loyal to the pope in defiance of the communist's government support of an officially sponsored church, and relations between Beijing and the Holy See are often tense.

Speaking about China's newly installed regime leaders, Benedict expressed hope that "they will esteem the contribution of the religions, in respect for each other, in such a way that they can help to build a fraternal society for the benefit of that noble people and of the whole world."

Acknowledging Latin America's predominant Christian population, he urged government leaders to carry out commitments to development and to fighting organized crime.

In Britain, the royal family was attending Christmas Day church services at St. Mary Magdelene Church on Queen Elizabeth II's sprawling Sandringham estate, though there were a few notable absences. Prince William is spending the holiday with his pregnant wife Kate and his in-laws in the southern England village of Bucklebury, while Prince Harry is serving with British troops in Afghanistan.

Later Tuesday, the queen delivered her traditional, prerecorded Christmas message, which for the first time was broadcast in 3D.

At Canterbury cathedral, Anglican leader Rowan Williams delivered his final Christmas day sermon as archbishop of Canterbury. He acknowledged how the church's General Synod's vote against allowing women to become bishops had cost credibility and said the faithful felt a "real sense of loss" over the decision.

_____

Dalia Nammari in Bethlehem and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.

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Should President Obama label the Westboro Baptist Church a hate group?

The "God Hates Fags" gang most recently threatened to picket funerals for the victims of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

More than 260,000 people have signed a White House petition to designate the Westboro Baptist Church — notorious for picketing soldiers' funerals with signs reading "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" — as a hate group. The petition, the most popular so far to be submitted to the Obama administration's "We the People" site, came in response to the church's threat to picket funerals for the victims of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., which the church views as God's punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality. "Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment," tweeted church spokesman Shirley Phelps-Roger on Dec. 15. (It appears the group did not follow through on that vow.)

A petition needs only 25,000 signatures to require a response from the White House, which means Obama's team will have to consider whether the church's hateful rants qualify it as a hate group. Such a move would strip the church, which is largely composed of leader Fred Phelps' family, of its tax-exempt status, and could lead to more severe legal penalties if the group is ever convicted of breaking the law. Westboro has already been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and other civil rights groups."Their actions have been directed at many groups, including homosexuals, military, Jewish people and even other Christians," according to the petition. "They pose a threat to the welfare and treatment of others and will not improve without some form of imposed regulation."

SEE ALSO: Why the U.S. must change its presidential succession rules

As if the massacre at Newtown wasn't enough of a nightmare, it's utterly loathsome to imagine throwing in a bunch of gay-bashers dancing on the graves of dead babies. But anti-gay sentiment is hardly new in America. And as WalkerBragman at DailyKos notes, Westboro is "not the first to blame homosexuality for catastrophic events. Jerry Falwell famously blamed 'the gays' for 9/11." Indeed, the Supreme Court has already ruled that Westboro's demonstrations are protected by the First Amendment, which prompted Congress to pass a law that requires protests to be held at least 300 feet away from military funerals.

So while it's refreshing to see a White House petition that isn't laughably ridiculous — like trying to deport CNN anchor Piers Morgan — it seems unlikely that the Obama administration will grant hate status to a group that, so far as anyone knows, hasn't threatened violence or committed any illegal acts.

SEE ALSO: Sen. Mike Crapo's DUI arrest: The fallout

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Pakistan's loneliest church celebrates Christmas in Taliban country

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - This Christmas, pastor Nazir Alam will stoke up a fire, lay a fresh cloth on the altar and welcome parishioners as they arrive at his church in Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal area known as an al-Qaeda haven.

"The lights are all up, and the choir boys are ready. The church is looking its best," said 60-year-old Alam, a former missionary who has celebrated his last ten Christmases there. "There's not much left to do but to pray and rejoice."

Outsiders might see little cause for joy. Pakistan is the sixth most dangerous country in the world for minorities, says London-based watchdog Minority Rights Group International. Christians, Shiite Muslims and Ahmadis are victims of a rising tide of deadly attacks.

But Alam's church, and the homes of most of his 200 parishioners, are nestled inside a Pakistani army base in South Waziristan, a mountainous region that was a hotbed of militancy until a military offensive in 2009.

"When the U.S. went into Kabul, things became bad for everyone. But we are safe here. The army protects us," says Shaan Masih, who helps clean the church and likes to play the drums and sing carols.

For two decades, the church was little more than a room and the tiny community worshipped there under light protection. In 2009, the army set up a base in South Waziristan as part of the offensive against the insurgency and invited the church inside.

"It was a longstanding demand of the community to be given a proper space," Col. Atif Ali, a military officer, told Reuters during a rare trip to the region arranged by the military.

Many of the Christians work for the army in clerical or domestic positions. So far, they have been sheltered from the bombings, raids and drone strikes, violence that rocks the region on an almost daily basis.

Less than a 100 miles away lies North Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan and one of the last areas controlled by the Pakistani Taliban.

The United States has repeatedly urged Pakistan to launch an operation against militants sheltered there including remnants of al Qaeda and Pakistani groups targeting the nation's minorities.

Pakistan says it is doing everything it can to fight the militancy and needs to consolidate the campaign in South Waziristan before opening a new front.

FRESHLY PAINTED

The small blue and white church building has been freshly painted and the main hall covered in new ceramic tiles. A small chandelier hangs from the ceiling and a cloth spread over the altar reads: "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

The church's gratitude to the army is expressed in a sign outside thanking Ali for his help with the renovation.

"Now it is much easier and convenient for them to worship. The new building is close to their homes. They are very happy with us," he said.

While Christians elsewhere in the country are lowering their profile, community members here mix freely with their Muslim neighbors. Their children attend the same schools and neighbors go to each others' weddings and funerals.

When five Christians from Waziristan were kidnapped by the Taliban on their way to the plains of Punjab in 2009, pressure from the army and the community helped free them.

"There are lots of Muslims in our neighborhood," said 30-year-old Saleem Masih, another church helper. "We take part in each other's happiness and sorrow. Christmas is coming. You'll see the Muslims will join us."

Relations between Pakistan's Christians and Muslims are not always so harmonious. Rimsha Masih, a teenage Christian girl, was accused of blasphemy in Islamabad earlier this year in a case that underlined the climate of fear and suspicion that minorities face.

Masih was eventually cleared of the charges, but many of her neighbors fled their homes and her family is still in hiding. Nine Christians were killed after a similar accusation in 2009 and mobs frequently lynch anyone accused of blasphemy before they can get to court.

That's one reason why Christians in South Waziristan say they feel safer in their army base than living in Pakistan's capital, where they are vulnerable to accusations from anyone who covets their homes or businesses.

But the main reason, says pastor Alam, is their trust in their neighbors, ordinary Muslims who are also living under the shadow of war.

"If there is one person who kills, there are also so many who protect. We couldn't live here if Muslims didn't give us protection," said Alam.

"Don't forget: where there is bad, there is always good also."

(Editing by Katharine Houreld and Sanjeev Miglani)

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Pope leads a packed Christmas Eve Mass

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Heralded by the blare of trumpets, Pope Benedict XVI is presiding over Christmas Eve Mass in a St. Peter's Basilica packed with tourists, Italians and other faithful.

The ceremony began at 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) Monday night instead of the traditional midnight start time. The schedule was changed at the Vatican years ago to let the pontiff rest before he is to deliver a Christmas Day speech hours later from the basilica's central balcony.

A smiling Benedict, dressed in gold-colored vestments, waved to photo-snapping pilgrims and applauding church-goers as he glided up the center aisle toward the ornate main altar of the cavernous basilica on a wheeled platform guided by white-gloved aides. The platform is employed to save the 85-year-old pontiff's energy.

As a men's choir chanted, Benedict sprinkled incense around the altar, and wished the faithful "peace" in Latin.

A few hours before Mass, Benedict lit a Christmas peace candle and set it upon the windowsill of his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square.

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Find room for God in fast-paced world, pope says on Christmas eve

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, leading the world's Roman Catholics into Christmas, on Monday urged people to find room for God in their fast-paced lives filled with the latest technological gadgets.

The 85-year-old pope, marking the eighth Christmas season of his pontificate, celebrated a solemn Christmas Eve mass in St Peter's Basilica, during which he appealed for a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and an end to the civil war in Syria.

At the mass for some 10,000 people in the basilica and broadcast to millions of others on television, the pope wove his homily around the theme of God's place in today's modern world.

"Do we have time and space for him? Do we not actually turn away God himself? We begin to do so when we have no time for him," said the pope, wearing gold and white vestments.

"The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full," he said.

The leader of the world's some 1.2 billion Roman Catholics said societies had reached the point where many people's thinking processes did not leave any room even for the existence of God.

"Even if he seems to knock at the door of our thinking, he has to be explained away. If thinking is to be taken seriously, it must be structured in such a way that the 'God hypothesis' becomes superfluous," he said.

"There is no room for him. Not even in our feelings and desires is there any room for him. We want ourselves. We want what we can seize hold of, we want happiness that is within our reach, we want our plans and purposes to succeed. We are so 'full' of ourselves that there is no room left for God."

PEACE CANDLE

Bells inside and outside the basilica chimed when the pope said "Glory to God in the Highest," the words the gospels say the angels sang at the moment of Jesus' birth.

Earlier on Monday the pope appeared at the window of his apartments in the apostolic palace and lit a peace candle, as a larger-than-life nativity scene was unveiled in St Peter's Square below.

Reflecting on the gospel account of Jesus born in a stable because there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn, he said when people find no room for God in their lives, they will soon find no room for others.

"Let us ask the Lord that we may become vigilant for his presence, that we may hear how softly yet insistently he knocks at the door of our being and willing.

"Let us ask that we may make room for him within ourselves, that we may recognise him also in those through whom he speaks to us: children, the suffering, the abandoned, those who are excluded and the poor of this world," he said.

He asked for prayers for the people who "live and suffer" in the Holy Land today.

The pope called for peace among Israelis and Palestinians and for the people of Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and prayed that "Christians in those lands where our faith was born may be able to continue living there, that Christians and Muslims may build up their countries side-by-side in God's peace."

The Vatican is concerned about the exodus from the Middle East of Christians, many of whom leave because they fear for their safety. Christians now comprise five percent of the population of the region, down from 20 percent a century ago.

According to some estimates, the current population of 12 million Christians in the Middle East could halve by 2020 if security and birth rates continue to decline.

At noon (1100 GMT/6 AM ET) the pope will deliver his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing and message from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

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Polish bishop who built secret communist-era churches dies at 94

WARSAW (Reuters) - Retired Polish Archbishop Ignacy Tokarczuk, who built churches in secret in defiance of the communist authorities, becoming a folk hero for many, has died at the age of 94, PAP news agency said on Saturday.

One of the Soviet bloc's more colorful anti-communist clerics, Tokarczuk clandestinely built hundreds of churches under the noses of the officially atheist government in the 1960s and 1970s.

"While Ignacy Tokarczuk was bishop of Przemysl, more than 400 churches and chapels were built in the diocese despite the lack of building permits from the communist authorities," Episcopate Chairman Archbishop Jozef Michalik said on the website of the Przemysl Archdiocese.

"He will be remembered for his uncompromising stance in defence of the institution of the Catholic Church despite frequent harassment by the security service of the Polish People's Republic."

The typical ruse was for a parishioner in the staunchly Catholic Przemysl region, in southeastern Poland, to get a building permit from the authorities to build a farmhouse, whose interior was then secretly fitted out as a house of worship.

When volunteer builders from the parish had everything in place, they would affix a small steeple to the roof under the cover of darkness, and a new church was created.

Communist security troops were routinely sent to the churches after they were discovered but, faced with the embarrassing prospect of demolishing a structure built by local volunteers, the authorities frequently gave in.

Despite constant surveillance and harassment, including visa denials preventing trips to Rome, Tokarczuk actively supported anti-communist dissident groups in the 1970s and the Solidarity movement that emerged in 1980.

The Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, Solidarity evolved into a 10-million-strong pro-democracy movement which the communists tried to crush.

Tokarczuk died on Friday in Przemysl.

(Reporting by Rob Strybel; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Attack on Libyan church building kills two

var t_art_head = new Date().getTime();TRIPOLI (Reuters) - An explosion on Sunday at a building belonging to a Coptic church in western Libya killed two Egyptian men and wounded two others, a military spokesman said.

Attackers threw a homemade bomb at an administration building belonging to the Egyptian Coptic church in Dafniya, close to the western city of Misrata, said Ibrahim Rajab of Misrata military council.

The Egyptian consul in the city, Tareq Dahrouj, said he had visited the church and the building where the two church workers were killed early on Sunday.

"The explosion seems like it was very strong and I have started making my investigations with Misrata officials," he said.

Libya has small communities of Egyptians, Greeks and Italians who account for most of the Christian minority in the predominantly Islamic country.

Libya's new rulers have struggled to impose their authority on a myriad of armed groups, who helped oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi last year but have yet to lay down their arms. Sunday's attack was the first major assault on a Christian target since the revolution.

In Egypt, following the removal in 2011 of President Hosni Mubarak, Coptic Christians have become increasingly worried after an upsurge in attacks on churches, which they blame on hard-line Islamists.

Repeated attacks on foreign diplomatic and aid centers in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi have made it very dangerous for non-locals to work and live there.

The worst attack on a foreign target was on September 11, when the U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three embassy staff were killed in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi.

(Reporting By Ali Shuaib; Writing By Hadeel Al-Shalchi; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

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Christmas brings fear of church bombs in Nigeria

MADALLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Kneeling over a dusty grave on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital, 16-year old Hope Ehiawaguan says a prayer, lays down flowers and tearfully tells her brother she loves him.

He was one of 44 killed on Christmas Day last year when a member of Islamist sect Boko Haram rammed a car packed with explosives into the gates of St Theresa's Church in Madalla, a satellite town 25 miles from the center of Abuja.

Boko Haram has killed hundreds in its campaign to impose sharia law in northern Nigeria and is the biggest threat to stability in Africa's top oil exporter.

Two other churches were bombed that day and on Christmas Eve 2010 over 40 people were killed in similar attacks.

This Christmas, the police and military are expecting more trouble in the north. They've ordered security to be tightened, people's movement restricted and churches to be guarded.

But such is the commitment to religion in a country with Africa's largest Christian population that millions of people will pack out thousands of churches in the coming days. It is impossible to protect everyone, security experts say.

"I feel safe," Ehiawaguan says with uncertainty, when asked if she will come to church on December 25 this year.

"Not because of security here ... because we have a greater security in heaven," she says, wiping away her tears.

The blast in Madalla killed several people on the street and pulled down the church roof, condemning many of those trapped inside the burning building, including a 7-month old boy.

A plaque listing the names of the members of the church who were killed has been placed above their graves. The twisted metal of the cars destroyed in the blast is still there.

"I only pray to God to give them a heart," Ehiawaguan says, when asked about her brother's killers.

Security experts believe Boko Haram is targeting worshippers to spark a religious conflict in a country of 160 million people split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.

SECTARIAN THREAT

The sect has also targeted Mosques in the past and assassinated Imams who have questioned its insurgency. In the group's stronghold in the northeast, where most of its attacks occur, Muslims are equally at threat as Christians.

The fear for many is that more Christmas Day attacks could spark the sort of tit-for-tat sectarian violence between the mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south, which has claimed thousands of lives in the past decade.

"We have always insisted that Christians should not retaliate," said Sam Kraakevik Kujiyat, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna State, one of the areas worst hit by inter-religious violence in recent years.

"But there is fear ... we know not everyone who says he is a Christian acts like one."

Churches were emptier than usual on Sunday in northern cities of Kano and Kaduna, local residents said.

Despite bolstered security in cities across the north, dual suicide bombers attacked the offices of mobile phone operators India's Airtel and South Africa's MTN in Nigeria's second-largest city Kano on Saturday.

The bombers died but no civilians were killed.

No one took responsibility for the attacks but Boko Haram has targeted phone firms before because they say the companies help the security forces catch their members.

At least 2,800 people have died in fighting in the largely Muslim north since Boko Haram launched an uprising against the government in 2009, watchdog Human Rights Watch says.

Boko Haram has showed since its insurgency intensified more than two years ago that it can find weaknesses in defenses.

"One faction of Boko Haram has made several attempts to provoke violence between Christians and Muslims," said Peter Sharwood Smith, Nigeria head of security firm Drum Cussac.

"Unfortunately, I think it is very possible we may see attacks of this type (Church bombings) again."

Boko Haram is not the only threat in northern Nigeria.

Islamist Group called Ansaru, known to have ties with Boko Haram, has risen in prominence in recent weeks. It claimed an attack on a major police barracks in Abuja last month, where it said hundreds of prisoners were released.

The group said on Saturday that it was behind the kidnapping of a French national last week and it has been labeled a "terrorist group" by Britain.

(Additional reporting by Afolabi Sotunde and Abraham Achirga in Madalla and Isaac Abrak in Kaduna; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Anna Willard)

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Relics said to be from Jesus' birth to be at Chicago church

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Tiny fragments said to be from the manger that held the infant Jesus, the veil of his mother, Mary, and a thread from the cloak of St. Joseph will be displayed by a Roman Catholic church in Chicago when it celebrates its 155th anniversary on Sunday.

The fragments, released by the Vatican in 1972, were a gift to the Holy Family Church from the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, also in Chicago. Displaying them now has particular significance because of their association with Christmas, which marks the birth of Jesus.

The Rev. Jeremiah J. Boland, administrator of the church, said on Friday that he is "not that interested" in carbon testing the items to see if they are from the beginning of the Christian Era.

"The Vatican has its own process to determine the authenticity of things," Boland said. "I'm more concerned with it as an object of faith."

The manger relic has "more authenticity" since it was brought from the Holy Land to the Vatican in the 5th century, Boland said.

"One could argue how real the relics of Mary or Joseph are, but there were all sorts of objects over the centuries that have been venerated and are based on faith rather than on scientific explanation," he said.

Holy Family, built in 1857-1860, is the city's second-oldest church and one of only five public buildings that survived the 1871 Great Chicago Fire.

The fragments will be on display in a crystal reliquary, a vessel in which relics of saints are preserved.

Boland said that Our Lady of Pompeii had been founded as an Italian parish, while Holy Family had been an Irish parish. In the past in Chicago as in other U.S. cities, immigrant Catholics tended to stay in parishes that reflected their ethnic backgrounds.

"In the history of the neighborhood there was a lot of tension between groups," said Boland. "The parishes weren't immune to some of these difficulties." The gift of the relics, he said, "is a healing gesture."

The mass celebrating the transfer of the relics will be held on Sunday morning, and the relics will be displayed during the afternoon.

The church will also exhibit manger scenes from around the world, including Kenya, Ireland, Italy, France, Poland, Peru, Vatican City, Mexico, Egypt and Jerusalem.

(Reporting By Mary Wisniewski)

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Catholic Church urges Irish to oppose abortion law

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The head of Ireland's Catholic Church urged followers in his Christmas Day message to lobby against government plans to legalize abortion.

Ireland, the only EU member state that currently outlaws the procedure, is preparing legislation that would allow limited access to abortion after the European Court of Human Rights criticized the current regime.

The death last month of an Indian woman who was denied an abortion of her dying foetus and later died of blood poisoning has intensified the debate around abortion, which remains a hugely divisive subject in the predominantly Catholic country.

"I hope that everyone who believes that the right to life is fundamental will make their voice heard in a reasonable, but forthright, way to their representatives," Cardinal Sean Brady said in a Christmas message on Tuesday.

"No government has the right to remove that right from an innocent person."

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, a regular Mass goer, is bringing in legislation that would allow a woman to have an abortion if her life was at risk from pregnancy.

The country's Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that abortion was permitted when a woman's life was at risk but successive governments have avoided legislating for it because it is so divisive.

The death of Savita Halappanavar, who repeatedly asked for an abortion while she was miscarrying in an Irish hospital, highlighted the lack of clarity in Irish law that leaves doctors in a legally risky position.

Halappanavar's death re-ignited the abortion debate and prompted large protests by groups both in favor of and against abortion.

Kenny and his conservative Fine Gael party have been criticized for tackling the abortion issue and some party members have indicated that they may not be able to back the law.

Relations between the Irish government and the once dominant Catholic Church are at an all-time low in the wake of years of clerical sex abuse scandals.

Kenny told parliament last year that the Vatican's handling of the scandals had been dominated by "elitism and narcissism" and accused it of trying to cover up the abuse. The speech prompted the Vatican to recall its ambassador, or nuncio, to Ireland.

Brady, who has faced calls this year to resign over accusations he failed to warn parents their children were being sexually abused, said in his Christmas message that he wanted relations with government to improve.

"My hope is that the year ahead will see the relationship between faith and public life in our country move beyond the sometimes negative, exaggerated caricatures of the past."

(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Cameroon archbishop calls same-sex marriage crime against humanity

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The FBI is still searching for one of two convicted bank robbers who escaped last week from a high-rise jail in downtown Chicago by lowering themselves on a makeshift rope nearly 20 stories to the street. Kenneth Conley, 38, and his cellmate, Joseph Jose Banks, 37, escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center early on the morning of December 18. The pair apparently broke a window in the cell they shared, squeezed through the opening and lowered themselves to the street. They then hailed a cab to make their getaway. ...

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Pope gives advice as Italians prepare for bitter campaign

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict sent a political Christmas greeting to Italians on Tuesday as they head into an election campaign expected to be brutal and bitter: think, cooperate for the common good and don't discard values when making big choices.

The pope, in his Christmas greetings in 65 languages, said in his special message to Italians that he hoped the spirit of the day would "make people reflect, favor the spirit of cooperation for the common good and lead to a reflection on the hierarchy of values when making the most important of choices".

Italy holds national elections on Feb 24-25 to choose a new parliament and a new government.

Given that Italy's Catholic Church has turned its back on former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - who is trying to make a comeback even though his previous terms were mired in sex scandals and judicial woes - Benedict's words could be far less general and casual than they appear at first glance.

"It's not a specific endorsement for (Prime Minister Mario) Monti but it comes pretty close, given the well-known esteem the outgoing prime minister enjoys (at the Vatican)," the Italian news agency Ansa said of the pope's words.

Monti has urged Italians to join a debate on their country's future. He declared his availability to lead a reform-minded centrist alliance to seek a second term to complete the economic reform program begun when he took office just over a year ago.

He may yet stay on the sidelines, outside elected office, but still exercising substantial influence over a new centrist grouping that could at the very least help shape the agenda of the next government.

The Church has been embarrassed by the scandals surrounding Berlusconi but at the same time fears the unknown of what a leftist government might do on issues such as gay marriage and euthanasia.

SOBER AND STEADY

The former EU Commissioner - once labeled Supermario for his effectiveness in the job - goes to mass every Sunday with his wife of 40 years and has impressed the Vatican with his calmness, sobriety and what the Church sees as a genuine desire to fix Italy's economic problems and avoid social unrest of the kind seen in Greece.

Significantly, one of the ministers in Monti's outgoing technocrat government is Andrea Riccardi, founder of the internationally prestigious Catholic peace and charity group, the Sant' Egidio Community.

Riccardi is very influential among Catholics in Italy and could help deliver the Catholic vote for Monti or anyone else who promises to continue his policy of economic reform.

Italy's Catholic Church used to support Silvio Berlusconi as a bulwark against leftist governments. But it has made it clear to Berlusconi that this time there will be no blessing.

In its reaction to Berlusconi's decision to return to politics, Famiglia Cristiana, an influential Catholic magazine with one of Italy's largest weekly circulations, likened him to a "dinosaur" who could throw "the whole country into chaos".

The magazine accused him of selling Italians a mirage and trying to lure them with populist promises, such as the abolition of property taxes on primary residences.

Monti, demonstrating the kind of sobriety the Church says Italy needs, has said no one loves taxes but if the property levy is abolished for opportunistic electoral reasons, the move would throw accounts so out of whack that future governments would have to re-introduce it at a higher rate.

Berlusconi's adversaries accuse him of wanting to return to front-line politics to protect his business interests and regain partial and temporary immunity in trials for corruption and paying for sex with a minor.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian Bishops Conference, has made it clear where he stands on the issue.

"I am shocked by the irresponsibility of people who want to look after their own affairs while the house is still on fire," Bagnasco said.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; editing by Patrick Graham)

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Correction: Vatican-Christmas Shopping story

VATICAN CITY (AP) — In a story Dec. 23 about the Vatican's tax-free department store, The Associated Press erroneously reported that online cigar retailer www.bestcigarprices.com sells Cuban Montecristo No. 3 cigars. The company sells Montecristos made in the Dominican Republic.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Ho Ho Holy Discount: Vatican tax-free store busy

Ho Ho Holy Discount: Vatican tax-free department store open late to accommodate Christmas rush

By NICOLE WINFIELD

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Anyone left on your Christmas list just aching for a 65-inch Samsung 3D flat-screen television? Just your luck. The Vatican's duty-free department store has one on sale for €2,899 ($3,840) — a nifty savings over the €3,799 ($5,032) it costs at Italy's main electronics chain Euronics.

Or how about some new luggage for the holidays? The Vatican shop stocks a variety of Samsonite Cordoba Duo carry-ons for €123, a nice markdown from the €135 on the Samsonite website. But if a last-minute shopping splurge is in order, the Vatican can also oblige: Take this leather-bound travelling trunk from Florence's "The Bridge" leatherworks, with its five drawers, plaid interior, six wooden hangars and shiny brass buckles.

At €5,900, it comes with a matching leather golf club bag, just what every monsignor needs under his Christmas tree.

There's a little-known open secret in the Vatican gardens, a few paces behind St. Peter's Basilica and tucked inside the Vatican's old train station: a sprawling, three-story tax-free department store that rivals any airport duty free or military PX, stocking everything from Church's custom grade shoes (€483 a pair) to Baume et Mercier watches (ladies €1,585, men's Capeland €5,000).

There's a hitch, however. It's not open to the public, only to Vatican citizens, employees and their dependents, diplomats accredited to the Holy See and (unofficially) their lucky friends who, after stocking up on holiday must-haves, proceed to the checkout with their Vatican connection and the ID card that entitles them to shop there.

To be sure, Rome is no stranger to tax-free shopping. Many embassies, nearby military bases and the U.N. food agencies have commissaries for their employees, where imports of everything from American ice cream to French wine can be had minus the 21 percent sales tax included in list prices in Italy.

The Vatican has that and more, given that it's its own sovereign state — the world's smallest — operating in central Rome. At 44 hectares (110 acres), the Vatican city state is the physical home of the Holy See: the pope and governing structure and administration of the Catholic Church.

The Vatican Museums, home of Sistine Chapel, are the main profit-making enterprise of the Vatican city state, bringing in €91.3 million in revenue last year alone. But other smaller entrepreneurial endeavors boost the Vatican's coffers as well, including the department store, the tax-free gas station, the stamp and coin office, the Vatican pharmacy and its supermarket.

And in these days of austerity, their profits and bottom line are ever more important to the Vatican.

The Vatican is entitled to run such tax-free enterprises inside its walls based on the Lateran Treaty, the 1929 pact that regularized and regulates the Vatican's relations with Italy. But those regulations also limit the Vatican's customer base, lest all of Rome descend on the supermarket to stock up on Gordon's Gin (€8.50 a liter compared to the €15 it can run in nearby liquor stores) or Montecristo No. 3 cigars (box of 25 €84 ($110.95) compared to $164.95 on www.bestcigarprices.com).

About 4,700 people are employed by the Holy See and the Vatican city state; the Vatican's diplomatic corps — the Holy See has relations with some 175 countries — adds another chunk to the customer base.

Few people outside Rome know the department store exists — there's no evidence of it on any Vatican website, no photos of its wares, no advertising outside the Vatican walls. Those who do know it exists seem to want to pretend it doesn't since the high-end luxury items on sale aren't necessarily in tune with either the sobriety or the salaries of the Vatican rank-and-file.

In fact, on a recent Thursday morning, nary a collar nor religious habit was in sight as ordinary lay folk milled around the spacious store during December's "extraordinary opening hours" — extended to accommodate bargain-hunting Christmas shoppers who were rewarded with a wine tasting in the central atrium and piles of Brooks Brothers non-iron shirts and Burberry backpacks to choose from.

"More than the prices, it's the material," said Luciano, a bulky Roman, who refused to give his last name as he shopped for an overcoat with his wife and an obliging Vatican friend waiting at checkout. "This one I don't like — I look like a priest," he muttered as he put the navy blue trench coat back on a hangar.

Cardinal Edmund Szoka, the American who sought to bring some order into the Vatican's finances as head of the Vatican city state, is credited with having made the department store what it is today, moving it into the Vatican's underused train station, a miniature version of Washington's Union station with a sweeping double staircase and glass-front window that frames the dome of St. Peter's a few meters (yards) away.

Szoka said he moved it from the basement of the Vatican government building to the train station for more space, since the station wasn't used anymore for passengers and provided the perfect, airy open space that a shop of its kind would require.

"Our principal motivation in changing the train station building into a department store was mainly for the convenience of our employees, as well as for those who could come into the Vatican and shop there," he said in an email from his home in Michigan. "Naturally, we expected a profit, but that was not the primary motivation."

Szoka retired in 2006, well before the global economic crisis hit. The current leadership of the "Governorato" as the city state administration is called, recently asked all department heads to come up with cost-saving or profit-making initiatives to help the Vatican get through the tough times.

"Any good administrator wants to save what can be saved," said Monsignor Giuseppe Sciacca, the governorato's No. 2. "It seems obvious, necessary."

The Philatelic and Numismatic Office, for example, recently started selling a special limited-edition stamp to help pay for the €14 million restoration of the Bernini colonnade in St. Peter's Square after corporate sponsorship dried up amid the recession.

Vatican Radio announced in July it would be saving "hundreds of thousands of euros" in energy costs by stopping short -and -medium-wave broadcasts to Europe and the Americas, using other technologies instead.

Perhaps even more than the department store, the Vatican supermarket is a much-sought after perk for Vatican employees, and a boost to the Vatican's bottom line. And at Christmastime, it is as jammed as the department store, with lines snaking through the store and cars taking up valuable parking spaces inside Vatican City as shoppers pile their carts high with panettone, the traditional Italian Christmas cake which is the de rigueur gift for Italian holiday parties. Panettone can run €25 a pop at Roman bakeries; in the Vatican supermarket, a high-end brand runs almost half that.

"The Nutella is just better here," said Maria Grazia Mancini, a Rome municipal worker who was doing a major pre-Christmas shop with her father, a Vatican employee. "The products here are for export — the same brands but for export, so it's better quality."

While Sciacca is only too pleased to see the Vatican saving money where it can be saved and making it where it can be made, he was adamant that there are no plans to expand the customer base of the Vatican's little-known discount stores. Accords with Italy don't allow it.

"We shouldn't. And we can't," he said.

He spoke on the sidelines of the presentation of the Vatican's 2012 nativity scene, being unveiled Monday night and donated for the first time. The Vatican happily accepted the donated creche from the Italian region of Basilicata after its €550,000 Christmas setup in 2009 was exposed earlier this year during the scandal over leaked Vatican documents.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

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Gunmen kill six in northeast Nigeria church attack

KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed six people at a church in northeast Nigeria early on Tuesday, the third year running that Christmas services have come under deadly attack in the country, the military said.

The strike took place after a Christmas Eve midnight service outside the town of Potiskum in northeastern Yobe state, where Islamist sect Boko Haram has carried out several attacks this year.

"Unknown gunmen attempted to attack Potiskum but were repelled by the troops. While they were fleeing, they attacked a church in a village known as Jiri," said military spokesman Eli Lazarus, who confirmed that six people were killed.

Members of Boko Haram have killed hundreds in a campaign to impose sharia law in northern Nigeria.

The group killed dozens in a series of bombings across northern Nigeria on churches on Christmas Day last year, mirroring similar attacks in 2010 which killed more than 40.

This year the police and army pledged to protect churches, boosting security in major northern towns and cities and restricting people's movement.

At least 2,800 people have died in fighting in the largely Muslim north since Boko Haram launched an uprising against the government in 2009, watchdog Human Rights Watch says.

Potiskum, which lies in Boko Haram's northeastern stronghold, has been one of the areas worst affected by the insurgency.

Security experts believe Boko Haram is targeting worshippers to spark a religious conflict in a country of 160 million people split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.

Many churches in Nigeria's biggest northern city, Kano, and elsewhere in the north were almost empty for Christmas Day services on Tuesday, local residents said.

Two people were killed in separate attacks on Tuesday in Kano, a police source said. He said gunmen riding motorcycles killed the driver of a government worker and another civilian.

Pope Benedict used part of his Christmas message to the world on Tuesday to highlight the need for reconciliation in Nigeria, saying "savage acts of terrorism continue to reap victims, particularly among Christians".

(Reporting by Isaac Abrak; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

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Roman Catholic cleric celebrates Palestinian state

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — The top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land celebrated the United Nations' recent recognition of a Palestinian state in his annual pre-Christmas homily on Monday, saying that while the road to actual freedom from Israeli occupation remains long, the Palestinian homeland has been born.

Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal told followers at the patriarchate's headquarters in Jerusalem's Old City that this year's festivities were doubly joyful, celebrating "the birth of Christ our Lord and the birth of the state of Palestine."

"The path (to statehood) remains long, and will require a united effort," added Twal, a Palestinian citizen of Jordan.

From Jerusalem, he set off in a procession for the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Jesus' traditional birthplace. There, he was reminded that life on the ground for Palestinians has not really changed since the U.N. recognized their state last month in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Twal had to enter the biblical city through a massive metal gate in the barrier of towering concrete slabs Israel built between Jerusalem and Bethlehem during a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings in the last decade.

Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the statehood bid, saying it was a Palestinian ploy to bypass negotiations. Talks stalled four years ago, primarily over Israel's construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel has rejected the Palestinians' demand that it freeze all construction before they will renew talks, and launched a major settlement building push in retaliation for the successful statehood bid.

Hundreds of people were on hand to greet Twal in Manger Square, outside the Church of Nativity. The mood was festive under sunny skies, with children dressed in holiday finery or in Santa costumes, and marching bands playing in the streets.

A lavishly decorated 55-foot (25-meter) fir tree with a nativity scene at its foot dominated the plaza. Festivities were to culminate with Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born.

Devout Christians said it was a moving experience to be so close to the origins of their faith.

"It's a special feeling to be here, it's an encounter with my soul and God," said Joanne Kurczewska, a professor at Warsaw University in Poland, who was visiting Bethlehem for a second time at Christmas.

Christmas is the high point of the year in Bethlehem, which, like the rest of the West Bank, is struggling to recover from the economic hard times that followed the violent Palestinian uprising against Israel that broke out in late 2000.

Tourists and pilgrims who had been scared away by the fighting have been returning in larger numbers. Last year's Christmas Eve celebration produced the highest turnout in more than a decade, with some 100,000 visitors, including foreign workers and Arab Christians from Israel.

The Israeli Tourism Ministry predicts a 25 percent drop from that level this year, following last month's clash between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, which put a chill on tourist arrivals. Foreign tourists heading to Bethlehem must pass through Israel or the Israel-controlled border crossing into the West Bank from Jordan.

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Archbishop of Canterbury says Anglican church wounded, not dead

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Church of England on Tuesday said a vote last month that struck down proposals to allow women to become bishops had been "deeply painful", but that Christianity was still relevant in Britain despite falling numbers of believers.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who leads the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, said in his Christmas day sermon that the answer to the question of whether Christianity had "had its day" was a "resounding no".

The Church of England narrowly voted against allowing women bishops last month - to the dismay of Williams and Prime Minister David Cameron - in a move its leaders said risked undermining its role as the established church in society with clerics in parliament's upper chamber.

The media, many politicians and some members of the public have criticized the Church of England for failing to allow women bishops and for failing to back government plans for gay marriage at a time when it is under pressure to modernize.

In separate comments aired on Tuesday but recorded earlier, the Roman Catholic Church's leader in England and Wales, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, said the government's plans to allow gay marriage were a "shambles" and had no mandate.

No religious organization or cleric will be forced to conduct gay weddings under the plans, but critics fear that clause could be challenged under European human rights laws.

A census showed earlier this month that the number of people in England and Wales describing themselves as Christian has declined by 13 percent over the last decade, but Williams warned secularists not to become "too excited".

"There are a lot more questions to ask before we could possibly assume that the census figures told us that faith was losing its hold on society," Williams said.

"In the deeply painful aftermath of the synod's vote last month, what was startling was how many people who certainly wouldn't have said yes to the census question turned out to have a sort of investment in the church," he said.

Williams, 62, is stepping down after 10 years in his post, and will be replaced next year by former oil executive Justin Welby.

Williams has agonized over schisms in the Anglican Communion and has said he hopes his successor has "the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros".

(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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