VATICAN CITY • Iraqi Christians celebrated a somber Christmas in a Baghdad cathedral stained with dried blood, while Pope Benedict XVI exhorted Chinese Catholics to stay loyal despite restrictions on them, in a holiday address laced with worry for the world's Christian minorities.
Saturday's grim news seemed to highlight the pope's concern for his flock's welfare.
Eleven people including a priest were injured in a bombing during Christmas Mass in a police chapel in the Philippines, which has the largest Catholic population in Asia. The attack took place on Jolo island, a stronghold of al-Qaida-linked militants. And in Nigeria, attacks on two churches by Muslim sect members claimed six lives.
The suffering of Christians around the world framed much of the pontiff's traditional Christmas Day "Urbi et Orbi" message (Latin for "to the city and to the world"). He delivered his assessment of world suffering from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.
Benedict's exhortation to Catholics who have risked persecution in China highlighted a spike in tension between Beijing and the Vatican over the Chinese government's defiance of the pope's authority to name bishops. The pope has also been distressed by Chinese harassment of Rome-loyal bishops who didn't want to promote the state-backed official Catholic church.
"May the birth of the savior strengthen the spirit of faith, patience and courage of the faithful of the church in mainland China, that they may not lose heart through the limitations imposed on their freedom of religion and conscience," Benedict said, praying aloud.
Persecution of Christians has been a pressing concern at the Vatican of late, especially over its dwindling flock in the Middle East. Christians make up only about 2 percent of the population in the Holy Land today, compared with about 15 percent in 1950.
In Iraq, Christians have faced repeated violence by militants intent on driving them out of the country. At Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad, bits of dried flesh and blood remained stuck on the ceiling, grim reminders of the Oct. 31 attack during Mass that killed 68 people.
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