Pope's Year-End Speech

Pope Benedict XVI decried the clash of civilizations and religions, calling it a "danger that still threatens our times."

The 79-year-old German-born pope also reaffirmed the importance of priestly celibacy and voiced his opposition to same-sex unions in an address to the Roman Catholic Church's central administration Friday.

The year will be remembered for "the horrors of war that took place in the Holy Land and the general danger of the clash of civilizations and religions," Benedict said.

The pontiff also looked back on his four foreign trips, paid tribute to his predecessor Pope John Paul II, and reaffirmed the importance of the traditional family and priestly celibacy.

Dialogue needed

Benedict also called for dialogue between faith and reason.

"The power of man, which has increased thanks to science, is becoming a danger that threatens itself and the world," Benedict said, the DPA news agency reported.

The pope, who recently traveled to Turkey, also reaffirmed his respect for Islam. He said the Islamic world faces a challenge similar to the one Christianity encountered during the Enlightenment.

"On the one hand, one should oppose the dictatorship of positive relativism, which excludes God," Benedict said. "On the other, it is necessary to welcome the real achievements of the Enlightenment, human rights and especially religious freedom."

The pope is expected to lead a midnight mass in St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican on Sunday as well as give a Christmas Day address.