Pope sees Iraq war as 'very last option'

Pope uses strong words in addressing Vatican diplomats

By JOHN NORTON
Catholic News Service
Vatican City

In an annual "state of the world" address Jan. 13, the pope said the future of humanity depends partly on the earth's peoples and their leaders having the courage to say "no to war."

"War is not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity," he said.

"And what are we to say of the threat of a war which could strike the people of Iraq, the land of the prophets, a people already sorely tried by more than 12 years of embargo?" he said.

"War is never just another means that one can choose to employ for settling differences between nations," he said.

The pope said the UN charter and international law "remind us war cannot be decided upon, even when it is a matter of ensuring the common good, except as the last option and in accordance with very strict conditions, without ignoring the consequences for the civilian population both during and after the military options."

The pontiff's words, which came as the United States accelerated its military buildup in the Persian Gulf region within striking range of Iraq, were his strongest and most direct to date on the potential Iraqi conflict.

U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Jim Nicholson said the pope wrote to President George W. Bush in recent months to express his concerns about the Iraq situation and that Bush wrote back. Nicholson declined to detail the content of the letters.

In recent weeks, a growing chorus of Vatican officials has warned against resolving the Iraqi disarmament problem through war, pointedly rejecting the notion of a "preventive war" in the case of Iraq, which the United States suspects of harbouring weapons of mass destruction.

War "is always a defeat for humanity." - Pope John Paul

Reviewing the world situation at the start of 2003, the pope said he had been "personally struck by the feeling of fear which often dwells in the hearts of our contemporaries."

He cited the threat of "insidious terrorism capable of striking at any time and anywhere," war in the Middle East and the threat of war in Iraq, famine and conflicts in Africa, the spread of fatal diseases, and "the irresponsible behaviour contributing to the depletion of the planet's resources."

"Never as at the beginning of this millennium has humanity felt how precarious is the world which it has shaped.

"Yet everything can change," he added. "It depends on each of us."

He listed certain "requirements" that must be met "if entire peoples, perhaps even humanity itself, are not to sink into the abyss."

First among them was a "yes to life," particularly on the part of legislators.

"Abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, for example, risk reducing the human person to a mere object - life and death to order, as it were," he said.

Second, he called for respect for law, especially international agreements; he said such respect was the foundation of national and international stability.

"The world would be totally different if people began to apply in a straightforward manner the agreements already signed," he said.

Lastly, the pope called for an end to selfishness.

"The lifestyle of the prosperous, their patterns of consumption, must be reviewed in the light of their repercussions on other countries," he said.

The pope said world leaders must recognize that the independence of states, "can no longer be understood apart from the concept of interdependence.

"All states are interconnected both for better and for worse," he said.

In this regard, the pope said, two conditions must be met "if we are to avoid descending into chaos": rediscovery of the "paramount value" of "natural law" as the source of inspiration for civil and international law and professionally competent politicians who are honest, selfless and have strong moral convictions.

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