Pope John Paul has called for a ban on the death penalty around the world and said that senseless violence and abuse of human dignity had blurred the joy of the Christmas season for many people.
The Pope's specific appeal on Friday in his Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) Christmas message for the abolition of capital punishment was significant because it came a month before a trip to the US, where 500 convicted killers have been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
In his 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life, the Pope said modern means of punishing, repressing and preventing crime had made cases where the death penalty was necessary "very rare, if practically non-existent".
But his Christmas Day appeal was one of his most unequivocal and unqualified calls ever for an end to the death penalty. The Pope will hold talks with President Clinton in St Louis on January 26th.
Earlier this month, the Missouri supreme court postponed a planned execution that had been scheduled for the day after the Pope's meeting with Mr Clinton in St Louis.
The US is the only Western democracy to practise capital punishment. Its prisons hold 3,500 men and women under sentence of death.
The Pope also voiced concern about the "tormented situation" in the Middle East and denounced those responsible for war crimes and genocide.
Addressing a crowd of tens of thousands of people from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica, he spoke of "tragic situations, which often involve human guilt and even malice, soaked in fratricidal hate and senseless violence".
The Pope, whose address was televised live to millions of people in 45 countries, prayed that the light coming from Christ's birthplace could save humanity from distress.
"May the proclamation of Christmas be a source of encouragement to all those who work to bring relief to the tormented situation in the Middle East by respecting international commitments," said the Pope (78), who appeared tired as he addressed the crowd.
He said the spirit of Christmas also should prompt people to take measures "to restrain the bloodied hand of those responsible for genocide and crimes of war, to give environmental issues . . . the indispensable attention which they deserve for the protection of creation and of human dignity".
After reading his message in Italian, the Pope read his Christmas greetings in 58 languages, issuing a "special" greeting to Kurds in the crowd.
The Pope's health has been declining visibly in recent years but close aides say he is determined to lead his Church into the third millennium of Christianity.