Poor weather blights Christmas mass in Rome

The Pope has celebrated Christmas Mass at the Vatican and prayed for peace in an atmosphere of heightened security following this week’s parcel bomb attacks in the Italian capital.

Some 10,000 people attended the service at St Peter’s basilica, but a torreential downpour kept attendance outdoors low.

“Lord, make your promise come fully true… break the rods of the oppressors, burn the tramping boots, let the time of the garments rolled in blood come to an end. Fulfill the prophecy: that of peace there will be no end,” said Benedict XVIth.

It was the 83 year-old Pope’s sixth Christmas mass, and the first for two years that was not breached by Susanna Maiolo, who last year managed to knock him to the ground along with a French cardinal, injuring his hip. She is currently in a Swiss hospital.

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