VATICAN CITY (CNS/Zenit): Warning of the disastrous consequences of war, Pope John Paul II and top Vatican diplomatic officials met with Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz on February 14 and asked Iraq for “concrete commitments” to respect UN disarmament resolutions.
Mr Aziz, a Catholic of the Chaldean rite, met privately with the pontiff for about half an hour, then proceeded to a 45-minute meeting with secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, who is the Vatican’s equivalent of foreign minister.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the meetings “allowed a broad exchange of views on the noted danger of an armed intervention in Iraq, which would add further grave sufferings for those populations which are already tried by long years of embargo”.
In a statement, he said Mr Aziz, who requested the meetings, assured the Church leaders “of the Iraqi Government’s willingness to co-operate with the international community, particularly in regard to disarmament”.
At an evening press conference in Rome, Mr Aziz said he told the Pope and Vatican officials that a Western-led war against Iraq would provoke negative reaction in the Arab Muslim world and “poison” Christian-Muslim relations.
;Meanwhile, a papal envoy, retired French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray met with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. Carrying a personal message from the Pope, the cardinal said he was trying to convince Iraq to show full co-operation with international inspectors and to convince the world to press ahead for peaceful solutions.
In January, the Pope appealed to the international community to find a peaceful solution with Iraq, saying “war is not always inevitable” and is “always a defeat for humanity”.
