Pope Benedict ushered in the New Year on today by appealing for solidarity worldwide to fight global poverty made worse by the financial crisis.

The Pontiff, delivering a traditional New Year prayer for peace, said the economic crisis should be regarded as an opportunity to question "the dominant development model" and amend it to narrow the gap between the haves and the have nots.

"The current global economic crisis must also be viewed as a test: are we ready to look at it, in all its complexity, as a challenge for the future and not just as an emergency that needs short-lived responses?" the Pope said during mass at St. Peter's Basilica.

"Are we prepared for a deep revision of the dominant development model to correct it in a concerted and far-sighted fashion?

"The state of the planet's environment and above all the cultural and moral crisis ... are demanding this, even more than the immediate financial problems," the Pope said.

Pope Benedict added that poverty threatened peace the world over, calling for a new virtuous cycle of solidarity and sobriety.

He reiterated his appeal for an end to the conflict in the the Gaza Strip, saying that violence was also a form of poverty and that a large majority of Israelis and Palestinians wanted peace.