VATICAN CITY (CNS): Pope John Paul II has added his weight to an appeal for a peaceful settlement of the crisis in Iraq by sending a high-level envoy to Baghdad to press for greater Iraqi co-operation with UN weapons inspectors.
Cardinal Roger Etchegaray left for Baghdad last Monday on a mission to “help the Iraqi authorities make a serious reflection on the duty of effective international co-operation, based on justice and international law, in view of assuring the supreme gift of peace to its people,” a Vatican statement said.
Cardinal Etchegaray said he planned to deliver a personal message from the Pope to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The move was welcomed by US Ambassador to the Vatican, Jim Nicholson, who told Catholic News Service last Monday that “if there’s anyone that might be able to get Hussein to listen to reason, it might be the Pope”.
Latin-rite Archbishop Jean Benjamin Sleiman of Baghdad told Vatican Radio that Catholics in Baghdad were informed during Sunday Masses about Cardinal Etchegaray’s arrival. Many were hopeful that his mission would bring peace, he said.
The Pope was due to meet with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz on Friday, and Vatican officials have engaged in meetings with foreign officials – publicised and unpublicised – in an effort to help defuse the crisis.
On Tuesday, the Pope is scheduled to meet with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to discuss the Iraqi crisis.
