Pope Benedict XVI on Monday rapped the international community for not doing enough to fight famine around the globe, branding the situation a "scandal".
Addressing ambassadors to the Holy See gathered here for the traditional papal New Year speech, the pope said that "the scandal of famine, which is getting worse, is unacceptable in a world which has the means and knowledge to tackle it".
He urged the Western world to help by "accelerating the process of cancelling or reducing the debt of the poorest countries".
This should be done without imposing structural reform measures which would be "disastrous for the most vulnerable populations", the German-born pope added.
Benedict also touched on the environment, saying that life-style changes were required to "eliminate the structural causes of the world economy's malfunctions" and correct models of growth which were unable to "ensure respect for the environment and future development".
In his address to the 175 ambassadors, the pope referred to 28 countries and their problems and prospects.
Referring to the war-torn Darfur region of western Sudan, the pope said "the international community has appeared impotent for the past four years despite attempts to relieve the traumatised people and find a political solution".
He also appealed to Somalia and Ethiopia to lay down their arms and "choose the path of dialogue".
In Rwanda, he said he hoped the "long process of reconciliation" after the 1994 genocide would yield "justice, truth and forgiveness".
He highlighted signs of economic progress in South America which he said had reduced poverty and unemployment levels.
With regard to Cuba, the pope called on the Caribbean island to "open up to the world" but added that the world should also "open up to Cuba".
Benedict said he hoped the economic expansion and increasing international role of India and China would bring benefits to their peoples.
Turning to the Middle East, the 79-year-old pope said "partial or unilateral solutions" were doomed to failure and that peace between Israelis and Palestinians would only come through "negotiated and comprehensive solutions".
He called for respect for the Palestinians' right to a "free and sovereign state", Israel's right to "live in peace" and Lebanon's right to independence.
The pope also asked Iran to consider the "legitimate concerns of the international community" over its nuclear programme.
He went on to condemn the "substantial increase in violence and terrorist attacks" in Afghanistan and the "fragility of the democratisation processes" in East Timor.
In other comments, the pope reiterated the Catholic Church's condemnation of abortion and human cloning and expressed concern that the traditional family model was being undermined by unions other than those "founded on marriage between man and woman".
He said any legal recognition of such unions constituted an "offence" to the family and "helps destabilise it".
