VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday accused rich states of holding poor countries hostage over fatal diseases and lambasted the global financial industry for creating an economic crisis.

In a message entitled "Fighting Poverty to Build Peace", the pope attacked global efforts to prevent the spread of diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS, which he said were a common cause of poverty.

"It happens that countries afflicted by some of these pandemics find themselves held hostage, when they try to address them, by those who make economic aid conditional upon the implementation of anti-life policies," he said.

Benedict also attacked financiers for their short-term thinking that has led to current global economic woes.

"The recent crisis demonstrates how financial activity can at times be completely turned in on itself, lacking any long-term consideration of the common good," said the pope in his annual peace message.

He added that instead of sustaining long-term development, the financial system simply concentrates on "the technical management of various forms of risk".

In his advance message for the Roman Catholic Church's traditional January 1 World Day of Peace, Benedict warned that a number of low-income countries are marginalized from the world market.

"In these countries, which are mostly in Africa, dependence on the exportation of commodities continues to constitute a potent risk factor," he said.

"Their growth has been negatively influenced by the rapid decline, seen in recent decades, in the prices of commodities, which constitute practically the whole of their exports," he added.

However Benedict denied that increasing population sizes had contributed to poverty.

"Among the most developed nations, those with higher birth-rates enjoy better opportunities for development. In other words, population is proving to be an asset, not a factor that contributes to poverty," he said.