Pope Calls for Peace in New Year's Day Mass

Pope Benedict XVI has called on nations and individuals to play an active part in bringing about world peace and human rights in his New Year's Day Mass.

Pope Benedict urged for a lasting end to the conflict in the Holy Land in particular during his New Year's Day Mass in Vatican City, Italy, reports Sky News.

"How can one not turn one's glance yet again to the dramatic situation which characterises the very land where Jesus was born?" the Pope said.

Speaking to thousands in St Peter's Square, he wished "the international community unite their efforts so that in God's name, a
world can be built in which the essential rights of man are respected by all".

The Pope said injustice and violence threatened peace and that the danger of terrorism disturbed "the serenity of peoples".

He also called for the "recognition and the protection of the right to live and to freely profess one's own religion".

Earlier, the Pope described peace as a "gift to invoke with prayer, a task to carry out with courage, without ever tiring".

Benedict, 79, dressed in white vestments, looked tired at moments during the approximately 90-minute ceremony, Sky News reported.

The Vatican celebrates World Peace Day today.