Pope Aims Appeal for Iraq Peace Directly at Saddam

Pope Aims Appeal for Iraq Peace Directly at Saddam


Sun March 16, 2003


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul told Baghdad on Sunday it had a duty to cooperate fully with the international community to avoid war and said there was still time to resolve the Iraqi crisis through negotiation.
The pope aimed his comments directly at Iraqi leaders: "To them, I direct my pressing appeal: the fate of your fellow countrymen must always be your priority."

In one of his strongest appeals for the Iraq crisis to be resolved peacefully, the pontiff said there would be "tremendous consequences" for the Iraqi people if war breaks out.

"The political leaders in Baghdad have the urgent duty to collaborate fully with the international community, to eliminate any motive for an armed attack," the pope told pilgrims at his weekly Angelus address in St. Peter's Square.

"But I would also like to remind the member countries of the United Nations, especially those that make up the Security Council, that the use of force represents a last resort," the 82-year-old pope said.

"That is why, faced with the tremendous consequences that an international military operation would have for the people of Iraq... I say to all: there is still time to negotiate, there is still space for peace."

The pope issued his latest appeal as leaders from the United States, Britain and Spain prepared to meet in an emergency summit on the Portuguese islands of the Azores in the Atlantic -- dubbed by some critics as "a council of war."

The pope's peace envoy on Iraq, Cardinal Pio Laghi, called the Azores summit wrong, in remarks published on Sunday.

"Three countries are meeting in the Azores, only three, and that is wrong," Laghi, a former ambassador to the United States, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

Laghi, sent by the pope to Washington earlier this month to urge President Bush to avoid war with Iraq, encouraged the three nations to work to preserve peace rather than prepare for war.

"The next few days will be decisive for the outcome of the Iraqi crisis," the pope said in his Sunday address. "Let us pray to the Lord for the different players to have courage and farsightedness.



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