VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul, in his Easter message to the world, said Sunday it seemed that war had been declared on peace in the Holy Land and appealed for an end to what he called a spiral of abuse of power and killing.
The 81-year-old Pope has been hobbled by a bad knee but appeared in better condition than he has all week as he celebrated a mass for tens of thousands of people in a sunny St. Peter's Square.
He read his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message in a strong voice and underscored his pressing peace appeals by raising it often.
Before concluding he read the world Easter greetings in 62 languages, including Hebrew and Arabic, the languages of Israelis and Palestinians.
The Vatican meanwhile had no comment on an Italian newspaper report that the Pope, who turns 82 next month, may enter a Rome hospital next week to have an operation on his right knee, which has been afflicted by arthritis.
The Pope appeared to have few difficulties getting through the two-hour service, spending some of it standing on an altar platform surrounded by flowers.
In his message at the end of the service, the Pope spoke passionately of his deep concern for events in the Middle East, which he visited two years ago in a climate of relative peace.
Speaking in Italian, he called for an end to the "dramatic spiral of abuse of power and killings that bloody the Holy Land, plunged again in these very days into horror and despair."
He continued: "It seems that war has been declared on peace. But nothing is resolved by war. It only brings greater suffering and death. Neither do retaliation and reprisals resolve anything."
"The tragedy is truly great," he said, raising his voice.
The Pope spoke as Israeli soldiers encircling Yasser Arafat's headquarters traded fire with the Palestinian president's defenders and Israel defied a United Nations call for it to lift the siege of Arafat's base in Ramallah. A new suspected Palestinian suicide bombing also took place in Haifa, causing heavy loss of life.
One of the Pope's most pressing appeals for peace in the Holy Land was made even more poignant by the fact that it was delivered on the most important day of the Christian liturgical calendar.
SIXTH-LONGEST PONTIFICATE
The Pope, whose pontificate is now the sixth-longest in history, said the world had to act to end the tragedy of the Holy Land.
"No one can remain silent and inactive, no political or religious leader," he said.
"Denunciations must be followed by practical acts of solidarity that will help everyone to rediscover mutual respect and return to frank negotiation," he said.
"In that land Christ died and rose from the dead, and left the empty tomb as a silent but eloquent witness (to the need to) remove every reason for hatred and revenge," he said.
In the message, broadcast around the world, the Pope also said too many people were still subjected to misery and violence and specifically mentioned Afghanistan.
"In how many corners of the world do we hear the cry of those imploring help because they suffer and die?" he said.
Sunday's Easter Sunday service was the second that the leader of the world's some one billion Roman Catholics celebrated himself this week instead of delegating to others.
Saturday night, he celebrated a three-hour-long Easter Eve service which tested his strength.
Before Saturday, the Pope delegated cardinals to celebrate some Holy Week services for him while he merely presided at them in order to save his strength.
The Pope's health has been declining more or less steadily since the early 1990s, when symptoms of Parkinson's disease first surfaced. His left hand now trembles out of control.
A colon tumor was removed in 1992, he dislocated his shoulder in 1993 and broke his femur in 1994.
Doctors fear the Pope may have ever more difficulty moving by himself. He already uses a cane and for the past two years has been using a wheeled platform which Vatican ushers push up the main aisle of St. Peter's Basilica for services.