I don’t want to address any issue, religious or moral, except for the Pope’s words on guns on this board. I don’t want to offend anyone or insult him, but I find it very wrong for him to speak of anything since in theory he’ll never get a woman pregnant, nor will he ever need a gun to protect himself when he’s got bulletproof glass and yes, *ARMED* security. I appreciate that he wants a peaceful and harmonious society, but now he’s preaching against guns just like every politician.

WIRE:12/25/1999 14:06:00 ET
FOCUS-Papal message assails abortion, weapons

VATICAN CITY, Dec 25 (Reuters) – Pope John Paul, in his Christmas message for the new millennium, on Saturday attacked abortion and called for a ban on the senseless use of weapons.
In his “Urbi et Orbi” (To the City and the World) message to tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square, the Pope, 79, said humanity had much to regret about past centuries and urged the world to look to God’s truth to avoid more mistakes.

Looking tired at times and dressed in resplendent gold and white vestments, he was speaking 12 hours after fulfilling a dream of his papacy by opening the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica to usher in his Church’s millennium celebrations.

Speaking from the central balcony of Christendom’s largest Church, the Pope, his left hand trembling from what is believed to be Parkinson’s disease, said there was reason to give thanks for the many gifts of life that have enriched past generations.

But in a clear reference to abortion and euthanasia he asked God to “enlighten people’s minds, so that legislators and political leaders, men and women of good will, may be committed to welcoming human life as a precious gift.”

He later read Christmas greetings to the world in 59 languages, including some spoken in the world’s trouble spots.

As humanity embarks on a new millennium, the Pope, whose voice alternated from clear to trembling, said people should make a “pilgrimage in time” to recall the horrors of the past.

“We visit all the places of grief and war, the resting places of victims of brutal conflicts and cruel slaughter.”

BAN SENSELESS USE OF WEAPONS

The Pope said God was inviting all humanity “to ban the senseless use of arms, and the recourse to violence and hatred which have doomed individuals, peoples and continents.”

Humanity had “invented false certainties and chased after deceptive ideologies,” said the Polish Pope, who was instrumental in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

“At times people have refused to respect and love their brothers and sisters of a different race or faith, they have denied fundamental rights to individuals and nations,” he said.

On Friday night the Pope opened the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica to begin Roman Catholic millennium celebrations, which end on January 6, 2001. The moment marked a personal milestone for the Pontiff, now in the 21st year of his papacy.

Through recent years of frail health, aides say the Pope has been driven on by the words whispered to him by Polish Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski moments after his shock election in 1978.

“If God has chosen you, he has chosen you to lead the Church into the next millennium,” Wyszynski told the Pope.

CHURCH TO SEEK FORGIVENESS OF PAST ERRORS

The Pope has said the Church must use 2000 as a time to seek forgiveness for past errors, including its treatment of Jews.

The year should be a time of reconciliation, to promote Third World debt relief and an end to the death penalty.

On Saturday afternoon, the Pope presided at a vespers service at the Rome Basilica of St John in Lateran and opened that church’s Holy Door. There are four basilicas in Rome.

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