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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/pope-condemns-attacks-on-christians.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Pope Benedict XVI urged Christians to remain strong in the face of intolerance and violence (AP)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/min-pope-condemns-attacks-on-christians.jpg" alt="Pope Benedict XVI urged Christians to remain strong in the face of intolerance and violence (AP)"/></a></p>
<p>Pope Benedict XVI has urged Christians to remain strong in the face of intolerance and violence in a New Year&#8217;s appeal that came several hours after a bomb blast outside an Egyptian church that killed at least 21 people as worshippers left Mass.</p>
<p>The Pope condemned a widening campaign against Christians in the Middle East in his homily at St Peter&#8217;s Basilica, echoing comments last month in which he called a lack of religious freedom a threat to world security.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the face of the threatening tensions of the moment, especially in the face of discrimination, of abuse of power and religious intolerance that today particularly strikes Christians, I again direct a pressing invitation not to yield to discouragement and resignation,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Benedict has repeatedly denounced a campaign against Christians in Iraq blamed on al Qaida militants, including an October attack on a Baghdad Roman Catholic church that claimed 68 lives, two of them priests.</p>
<p>The Vatican is worried that a steady exodus of minority Christians from Iraq will permanently reduce their numbers and discourage the wider community of Christians in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Benedict cited what he called two negative extremes at work in the world &#8211; secularism, &#8220;pushing religion to the margins to confine it to the private sphere&#8221;, and &#8220;fundamentalism, which instead would like to impose (religion) with force on all&#8221;.</p>
<p>The Vatican celebrates New Year as World Peace Day, and Benedict urged world leaders to make a &#8220;concrete and constant commitment&#8221; to help bring peace.</p>
<p>On Saturday, a bomb exploded in front of a Coptic Christian church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, killing at least 21 people in an attack that raised suspicions of an al Qaida role.</p>
<p>Benedict recalled his speech last month in which &#8220;I stressed that religious freedom is the essential element of a state of law &#8211; you cannot deny it without, at the same time, undermining all rights and fundamental freedoms&#8221;.</p>
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