Pope bids farewell to 2005

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Pope Benedict XVI bid farewell to 2005 with "Vespers" and a "Te Deum" in St. Peter’s Basilica, where he thanked God, "master of time and history," and said his thoughts were with "the well loved Pope John Paul II" who died on April 2.

Benedict succeeded John Paul as head of the Roman Catholic Church on April 19.

"My thoughts go back 12 months to when, for the last time, the well loved Pope John Paul II spoke for God’s people to thank the Lord for the many benefits given to the Church and humanity" during the previous year, the Pontiff said, his voice often breaking.

Giving his account of the past year, Benedict celebrated the many meetings between the Roman Catholic Church and "other churches" and the messages of "respect and brotherhood" from followers of other religions and "people of goodwill."

He also spoke of the importance his predecessor had attached to the concept of the family.

John Paul II "was convinced, and said on several occasions, that the crisis of the family was very harmful for our civilisation," the Pontiff said, before stressing his own commitment to defending a concept of family "based on marriage."

The Pope also mentioned all those "in difficulty:" "the poorest people," the abandoned, "those who have lost hope in the meaning of their existence" and the "involuntary victims of selfish interests."

"We make their suffering our own," he said.

To mark the first day of the new year, Benedict was to lead a Mass in the Vatican yesterday.