Remember poor, abandoned, needy, pope says at thanksgiving liturgy

Published: 2006-01-03

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI rang out 2005 with prayers of thanks and a call to remember the poor and needy of the world. The pope, presiding at an annual "Te Deum" liturgy of thanksgiving in St. Peter's Basilica Dec. 31, said the church needs to share the pain of those who suffer. "I want to remember in a special way those who are in difficulty: the poor and the abandoned, those who have lost hope in finding the sense of their own existence, or those who are unwilling victims of selfish interests," he said. "We ask the Lord to soothe with his grace the pain provoked by evil," he said.

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