Love ... small enough to nestle in the human heart, yet great enough to move the sun and all the stars

Dr George Carey

Instead, he said, it was something of "immense power - standing at the heart of all that is most precious and most true".

And he stressed that the terror attacks would not be the "final word".

"Even on 11 September, people we would otherwise call ordinary did remarkable and heroic deeds," he said.

"On a doomed plane, they fought with the hijackers. In the stricken towers they risked, and sometimes lost, their lives trying to save others.

"Facing death, many spoke final words of love."

'Loving commitment'

Dr Carey said the much-acclaimed film "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", which he said he had very much enjoyed, also contained important messages about good and evil.

Dr Carey's address was shown on BBC2

He went on to talk about the "loving commitment" of charity worker Sheila Lloyd from Kent.

Mrs Lloyd, from Folkestone, he said, had spent the past 17 years collecting supplies for more than a dozen needy countries through her charity Operation Sunshine.

"Sheila's story shows how, from modest beginnings, the loving commitment of one woman has made a difference to hundreds of thousands of lives," said Dr Carey.

"Her example," he said, "and that of many others up and down the country offers us a message of hope this New Year, based on the power of love.

"The love that is small enough to nestle in the human heart, yet great enough to move the sun and all the stars."