Jedi_Monk Posted February 11, 2003 Share Posted February 11, 2003 From Times Online: Pope takes issue with America's 'just war' Richard Owen in Rome THE POPE launched an eleventh-hour crusade yesterday to avert a war against Iraq, for which he believes there is no justification. The ageing pontiff rebuffed attempts by the Bush Administration to persuade him that impending military action against Baghdad amounted to a Christian “just war”. Today he will dispatch a personal peace envoy to Baghdad to urge President Saddam Hussein to co-operate fully with United Nations weapons inspectors. At the end of the week he will meet Tariq Aziz, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister and an Arab Christian, in Rome, and will also meet Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General. Diplomats said that Mr Aziz might remain in Rome to meet Mr Annan under the auspices of the Vatican. Looking and sounding like a man rejuvenated by the urgent need to avert the imminent conflict, the Pope, 82, also gave his backing to the new Franco-German plan to resolve the Iraq crisis through beefed-up weapons inspections and the deployment of UN troops. The plan was disclosed to the Pope on Friday by Joschka Fischer, the German Foreign Minister. Diplomats said that the Pope had been “the first world figure to be told of the plan”. Yesterday the Pope made a dramatic and impassioned appeal for world prayers, declaring that only God could stop the conflict now. “At this hour of international worry we all feel the need to look to God and beg him to grant us the great gift of peace,” he told pilgrims and visitors in St Peter’s Square. Only “an act from on high” could offer hope of altering what appeared to be a bleak future... ...At the weekend the Pope said that efforts to stave off war must be multiplied. “One cannot do nothing in the face of terrorist attacks, but equally one cannot be idle in the face of the threats now on the horizon,” he said. “War is not inevitable...” ...the Archbishop [Tauran], speaking for the Pope, said that US arguments were insufficient and that there was no imminent threat from Baghdad that could justify a war. Civiltà Cattolica (Catholic Civilisation), a Jesuit journal that reflects Vatican views, said that “the Islamic masses, which already harbour a deep hatred of the West, will see it as an act of war against Islam”. The journal said that the real US motive was economic and that the concept of “preventive war” was highly dangerous. “If every country which feels threatened attacks first, there will be war without end on the entire planet,” it said. The article in its entirety can be found here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griff38 Posted February 11, 2003 Share Posted February 11, 2003 When Griff and the pope agree, it's a sign of the end time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C'jais Posted February 11, 2003 Share Posted February 11, 2003 Score one for the Pope! Couple this with the fact that he accepts the facts of science, and I'm starting to feel he isn't such a bad guy after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowTemplar Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 Originally posted by C'jais Score one for the Pope! Couple this with the fact that he accepts the facts of science, and I'm starting to feel he isn't such a bad guy after all. Couple this with the fact that he still doesn't accept condoms, abortions, and stem cell research and you get a sonofagoat. Remove that old fool, and get someone in charge who isn't stuck in the 1st century... Oh, but wait, that will actually cause the Church to collapse... Well more power to that! Oh, and augment that picture by considering that the same Pope actually blessed a cathedral made by some el Presidente in some backwater African country while his people were living in poverty. BTW: The concept of 'Just war' is disgusting. Who is the old withered God-Emperor Pope to say what's just and what's not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teleguy Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 Originally posted by ShadowTemplar Couple this with the fact that he still doesn't accept condoms, abortions, and stem cell research and you get a sonofagoat. Remove that old fool, and get someone in charge who isn't stuck in the 1st century Doesn't that apply to Bush as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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