POPE PAUL VI CELEBRATED MIDNIGHT MASS ON CHRISTMAS EVE THIS YEAR AT THE BIGGEST STEEL WORKS IN ITALY, IN TARANTO. ABOUT 15,000 PEOPLE INCLUDING 5,000 WORKERS IN OVERALLS AND RED-WHITE-AND-BLUE PLASTIC SAFETY HELMETS CHEERED AND CLAPPED AS THE POPE WAS BORNE IN ON AN ELECTRIC TROLLEY.

THE SERVICE WAS HELD IN THE ITALSIDER STEEL PLANT'S 500 METRES LONG PLATE-ROLLING MILL. A SOLID SLAB OF PURE STEEL SUPPORTED ON STEEL CYLINDERS SERVED AS AN ALTAR.

IN HIS ADDRESS THE POPE TOLD THE CROWDS THAT THEY REPRESENTED FOR HIM THE WORKERS OF THE WORLD. HE SAID THAT IT WAS HARD FOR HIM TO SPEAK TO THEM, BUT THAT HE HAD COME TO TARANTO TO EXPLAIN THAT SEPARATION BETWEEN THE WORLD OF THE WORKERS AND THE WORLD OF RELIGION SHOULD NOT EXIST. HE SAID: "FROM THIS STEEL-WORKING CENTRE, WHICH WE HERE CONSIDER AS A TYPICAL EXPRESSION OF MODERN LABOUR AT IT'S HIGHEST INDUSTRIAL MANIFESTATION OF INGENUITY, SCIENCE, TECHNIQUE, ECONOMIC DIMENSION AND SOCIAL PURPOSES, WE SHALL REPEAT AGAIN THAT THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE IS NOT EXTRANEOUS TO IT OR DENIED TO IT."
THIS WAS THE FIRST PAPAL VISIT TO SOUTHERN ITALY FOR NEARLY 950 YEARS. IT IS THE SECOND TIME POPE PAUL HAS CELEBRATED CHRISTMAS MASS AWAY FROM THE VATICAN, TWO YEARS AGO HE WENT TO FLORENCE TWO MONTHS AFTER THE CITY HAD BEEN DEVASTATED BY FLOODS. NORMALLY THE POPE CELEBRATES THE MASS IN THE SISTINE CHAPEL AT THE VATICAN.