Pope rings out 2010 with prayer for families in difficulty

In the person of Jesus, "the eternal God has entered and remains in man’s time," which means he takes on "evil, suffering and tragedies of all kinds, from those caused by the wickedness of men to those resulting from inauspicious natural disasters, but he now permanently and indelibly enfolds the joyful and liberating novelty of Christ the Saviour”.

This was the message of Benedict XVI New Year’s eve, in first vespers for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, before the recitation of the "Te Deum" of thanksgiving for the end of the calendar year. In St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope explained that God made child is "an invitation to find God's presence and His love that gives salvation even in the short and strenuous hours of our daily life."

As Bishop of Rome, he reminded his diocese the importance of daily meditation of the Word of God, because "there is an increasing need for a renewed proclamation of the Gospel to the hearts of the inhabitants of our city, to be open to meeting with Christ".

He asked the community to be close "to those who live in poverty and distress" at a time that "still generates concern about the precariousness in which so many families live." After the litirgical service Pope Benedict XVI visited the life sized Nativity in St Peter’s Square for a moment of prayer.