Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday implored Christians to mend their divisions which he described as “an insult to God”.

On a week of prayers dedicated to Christian unity, the Pontiff called for a “serious effort to convert to Christ” during the prayer.

“Each division of the Church is an insult to God,” he said, speaking from his apartment’s balcony on Saint Peter’s Square.

Last week he expressed “deep regret over the impossibility of sharing the same Eucharist (Holy Communion), a sign that we are still far from reaching unity.” He also highlighted the hardships Christians face in the Middle East, a reference to recent attacks, including the deadly bombing of a Coptic Church in Egypt that killed 21 people.

Threatening to exacerbate tensions between Muslims and Egypt’s minority Christians, a suicide bomber killed 21 people outside a church in the northern city of Alexandria after a New Year’s Eve mass at the start of 2011.

“We know the hardships our brothers and sisters have to face in the Holy Land and the Middle East... sometimes to the point of sacrificing their lives,” he said.