ShiningIce
3rd Level Green Feather
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2002
- Messages
- 4,701
- Points
- 36
WASHINGTON - Pleading for peace, an emissary from Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II questioned President Bush (news - web sites) Wednesday on whether he was doing all he could to avert what the envoy called an "unjust" war with Iraq (news - web sites).
Bush said removing Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) would make the world more peaceful.
The president met with Cardinal Pio Laghi, a former Vatican (news - web sites) ambassador to the United States and a Bush family friend, on Ash Wednesday, the start of the Christian Lenten season of penance and spiritual renewal leading up to Easter.
Bush told the envoy in a 40-minute meeting that "if it comes to the use of force, he believes it will make the world better," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites), who attended the private meeting. "Removing the threat to the region will lead to a better, more peaceful world in which innocent Iraqis will have a better life."
Laghi came bearing the pope's message: A war would be a "defeat for humanity" and would be neither morally nor legally justified.
In a letter to Bush, the pope stood by his view that a pre-emptive strike on Iraq is immoral "unless it gets backed" by the United Nations (news - web sites).
"I assure you, Mr. President, that I am praying for you and for America," the pope wrote, according to Laghi. "I ask the Lord to inspire you to search for the ways of a stable peace, the noblest of human endeavors."
In Rome, the pope called for "common efforts to spare humanity another dramatic conflict."
Without the U.N. support, military action against Iraq is "illegal, it's unjust," Laghi told reporters after the session with Bush.
"There are still peaceful avenues within the context of the vast patrimony of international law and institutions which exist for that purpose," Laghi said. "There is great unity on this grave matter on the part of the Holy See, the bishops in the United States, and the church throughout the world," he said.
War, Laghi told CNN, is "always a disaster."
"You might start and you don't know how to end it," he said. "And particularly it would be a war that would destroy human life — those people who are suffering already in Iraq, they would be really in a very bad situation."
Laghi posed a series of questions to Bush that reflected the differences between the White House and the Vatican on Iraq, said a senior administration official. The questions included the importance of an international effort to confront Saddam and what the envoy said was a gulf between the Western and Muslim worlds.
Bush disagreed on the last point, saying the U.S. effort to expand education opportunities to children had brought the Muslim and Western nations closer together, the administration official said.
Laghi said he left the White House with hope "in spite of the fact that the situation is what it is."
Bush has rarely met with opponents of his Iraq stand in recent months. He almost always meets with leaders who agree with him, but has spoken by phone with adversaries.
Bush, a Methodist, has taken pains throughout his presidency to court Catholic voters, who made up a quarter of the electorate in 2000 and split their votes between Bush and Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites). White House officials pointed out that Bush and the envoy also discussed abortion and cloning, two issues on which the administration and the Vatican generally agree.
The polite exchange described by White House aides reflected the careful language of diplomacy used by both sides, even when they disagree.
In a May visit to the Vatican, Bush told the pope he was "concerned" about the Catholic church's standing in America, where the church has been rocked by sex-abuse scandal.
Bush said removing Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) would make the world more peaceful.
The president met with Cardinal Pio Laghi, a former Vatican (news - web sites) ambassador to the United States and a Bush family friend, on Ash Wednesday, the start of the Christian Lenten season of penance and spiritual renewal leading up to Easter.
Bush told the envoy in a 40-minute meeting that "if it comes to the use of force, he believes it will make the world better," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites), who attended the private meeting. "Removing the threat to the region will lead to a better, more peaceful world in which innocent Iraqis will have a better life."
Laghi came bearing the pope's message: A war would be a "defeat for humanity" and would be neither morally nor legally justified.
In a letter to Bush, the pope stood by his view that a pre-emptive strike on Iraq is immoral "unless it gets backed" by the United Nations (news - web sites).
"I assure you, Mr. President, that I am praying for you and for America," the pope wrote, according to Laghi. "I ask the Lord to inspire you to search for the ways of a stable peace, the noblest of human endeavors."
In Rome, the pope called for "common efforts to spare humanity another dramatic conflict."
Without the U.N. support, military action against Iraq is "illegal, it's unjust," Laghi told reporters after the session with Bush.
"There are still peaceful avenues within the context of the vast patrimony of international law and institutions which exist for that purpose," Laghi said. "There is great unity on this grave matter on the part of the Holy See, the bishops in the United States, and the church throughout the world," he said.
War, Laghi told CNN, is "always a disaster."
"You might start and you don't know how to end it," he said. "And particularly it would be a war that would destroy human life — those people who are suffering already in Iraq, they would be really in a very bad situation."
Laghi posed a series of questions to Bush that reflected the differences between the White House and the Vatican on Iraq, said a senior administration official. The questions included the importance of an international effort to confront Saddam and what the envoy said was a gulf between the Western and Muslim worlds.
Bush disagreed on the last point, saying the U.S. effort to expand education opportunities to children had brought the Muslim and Western nations closer together, the administration official said.
Laghi said he left the White House with hope "in spite of the fact that the situation is what it is."
Bush has rarely met with opponents of his Iraq stand in recent months. He almost always meets with leaders who agree with him, but has spoken by phone with adversaries.
Bush, a Methodist, has taken pains throughout his presidency to court Catholic voters, who made up a quarter of the electorate in 2000 and split their votes between Bush and Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites). White House officials pointed out that Bush and the envoy also discussed abortion and cloning, two issues on which the administration and the Vatican generally agree.
The polite exchange described by White House aides reflected the careful language of diplomacy used by both sides, even when they disagree.
In a May visit to the Vatican, Bush told the pope he was "concerned" about the Catholic church's standing in America, where the church has been rocked by sex-abuse scandal.
