VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II on Sunday urged the faithful worldwide to pray in an "uninterrupted and unanimous" effort to bring peace to the Middle East.
The pontiff has repeatedly called for peace in the region, urging an end to the conflict in five-consecutive Sunday addresses, including his Easter message.
"During the month of May, uninterrupted and unanimous prayer to heaven should rise up from every part of the world in order that initiatives are finally found to relax tension and bring dialogue to the land of Christ and in every other place on the planet marked by violence and pain," the 81-year-old pope said from his window overlooking thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square for his weekly address.
The Vatican has been particularly concerned by the siege of the traditional birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity.
On April 2, about 200 armed Palestinians dashed into the church to evade Israeli soldiers involved in a military campaign to find Palestinians behind deadly attacks on Israelis. Israeli forces have surrounded the church since then, and Franciscan friars who care for the complex have refused to leave, saying they are responsible for the church.
"With the international situation," the pope said Sunday, "where so many needs and problems emerge and, in particular, in front of the drama of the Holy Land, which knows no end, we must turn with faith to the maternal intercession of the Virgin."
The pope made no reference to last week's extraordinary summit of U.S. Catholic leaders called to the Vatican to discuss the sex abuse scandal that has engulfed the American church.