During his Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter's Basilica he said modern celebrations obscure the simplicity of the message of Christ's birth.
"Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light," he said.
Security was tight for the evening Mass, as it has been in recent years.
There were no repeats of the 2008 and 2009 Christmas Eve security breaches, in which a woman with a history of psychiatric problems and wearing ared sweat shirt jumped the wooden security barrier along the basilica's central aisle and lunged for the Pope.
In 2008, the pope's security detail blocked her from getting to Benedict.
But in 2009 she managed to grab Benedict's vestments and pulled him to the ground.
The pope was unhurt and continued along with the service, but a French cardinal who was nearby fell and broke his hip.
Later the Pope will deliver his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" speech, Latin for "to the city and the world," from the central loggia of St Peter's.
Next weekend he will preside over a New Year's Eve vespers service, followed by a New Year's Day Mass. A few days later he will celebrate Epiphany Mass followed by his traditional baptising of babies in the Vatican's frescoed Sistine Chapel.
Meanwhile tens of thousands of Christians descended on the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem for Christmas celebrations in the traditional birthplace of Jesus.
The Israeli military, which controls movement in and out of Bethlehem, said about 100,000 visitors had entered the town on Christmas Eve, up from 70,000 last year.
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