Pope expected to tell Bush he is wrong on Iraq: Vatican

AFP ^ | May 13, 2004

[Shermy]

ROME (AFP) - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II is expected to warn President George W. Bush when the two men meet on June 4 that his policy in Iraq is wrong and the actions of US troops are damaging efforts to bring religions closer together, a senior Vatican official revealed.

Cardinal Pio Laghi said the US-led occupation force in Iraq should be replaced by "a multinational presence which is not dominated by those who wanted and fought the war."

It was not enough for a military force in Iraq not to be under US command, "it must not even give the impression that it is," he said Thursday.

Laghi was the pope's envoy to Washington last year in a fruitless attempt to persuade Bush not to invade Iraq against the wishes of the majority of the United Nations and its 15-member Security Council.

Referring to revelations this month of torture and humiliating mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers, the cardinal asked "how is it possible to remain in Iraq if these abuses continue?"

Laghi said he liked the United States and "could not have imagined that this madness was possible". He said he was "astonished" at the behaviour of US troops and called for "all light to be shed on this affair, justice to be done and guarantees given so it does not happen again."

Bush is due to meet the pope on June 4 before travelling to France for ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of the allied landings on the Atlantic coast on June 6, 1944, which began the liberation of Europe from Nazi occupation.

Laghi said Bush had been very anxious to see the pope and had changed his schedule to make the meeting possible, but said he did not think the president wanted to make political capital out of it before the election due to take place in November.

"If ever there were a difficult time to ask for an audience with the pope it is now," he said.

The cardinal said he also expected the pope to tell Bush that his policies in the Middle East in general were not helping the cause of peace.

"We must above all build cultural understanding between peoples and I do not believe that our American friends are doing that," he said.

"Bombing mosques, going into holy places, putting women soldiers in contact with naked men shows a lack of understanding of the Muslim world which I can only call surprising," he said.

"We must build bridges with Islam, not dig trenches between us," he went on. "And we must give top priority to the Israeli-Palestinian question, which is the root cause of terrorism."

The pope would tell Bush that "the fight against terrorism must not be purely repressive and punitive but must also proceed from the elimination of its causes, which are rooted in injustice."

Bush and the pope have met twice before, but the June 4 audience will be their first since the start of the war in Iraq.

[newgeezer]

Pope, what a non-biblical concept.

Hey, 'Wonk, that's the "rock" on which He built His Church, doncha know?

[tracer]

"It's part of the post Vatican II understanding of "ecumenism." It's sort of an "attract more flies with honey"....

It would appear that someone has confused honey and $#!t.....

[thoughtomator]

Actually, the truth is worse. The Vatican has known of priests falsely accused of molestation and has deliberately chosen to abandon them to the wolves.

[ambrose]

Maybe he was inspired by the Papal history of turning a blind eye to the Nazis, even as many good priests were thrown into concentration camps!

[fret1]

I agree. the Pope is infallible ONLY on Church Doctrine. Terrorism should be dealt with and defeated by the greatest nation in the world - U.S.A., along with our coalition.
The Pope's prayers and our determination to defeat this evil - Islamic Fundamentalism - will ultimately bring freedom-loving people to victory. The Pope is a good man. He is old. WE SHOULD WIN THIS WAR TO PROVE TO HIM IT WAS WORTH DYING FOR.

[Salamander]

Where is Pope Julius II when ya need him?.....:)

[Romulus]

It's the President who asked for this meeting, not the Pope. Being a candidate for president, Bush will probably find himself incapable of mentioning in passing his pro-life credentials in comparison to Kerry's, and modestly suggesting the Pope remind the AmChurch bishops of same.

But that's not the real reason for the trip.

The President is looking for a way to salvage the Iraq adventure, and he suspects the Pope's the man to help him. And maybe he is, if only Bush can lock Cheney & Co. out of the room for a few minutes and listen to the Pope explaining that whatever needs to be done must start with Bush's personally coming to terms with the truth that this war was an unnecessary fraud.

The Pope is not interested in being vindicated; the fact that so many on this thread seem to think otherwise only highlights their own poverty of imagination and spiritual bankruptcy. What he's interested in is conversion.

[Romulus]

That's a lie.

[Redbob]

"...a lack of understanding of the cvilized world which I can only call surprising."

Not so surprising when you consider these "people" are not OF the civilized world - they merely observe it from a chasm of 1,000 years or more.

[whd23]

I'm not even a Roman Catholic and I'm disgusted by that nonsense.

Don't really care if you're the Pope himself. You obviously didn't / haven't paid much attention to the child-abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church. The Church, as an organization, DID enable child-rapists. They DID shuffle priests from parish to parish when those priests were accused of molesting children. This are facts, deal with it.

[noscreenname]

And this 'revelation' should surprise us why?

[uncbob]

US troops are damaging efforts to bring religions closer together,

Yeah they all ought to be out kissing the Koran ala the Pope

Notice ho that made it so much better for Chtistians in muslim countries

[biblewonk]

Hey, 'Wonk, that's the "rock" on which He built His Church, doncha know?

So Peter wore a beanie and had a pepper shaker on a stick?

[Protagoras]

I take it you are not calling the Pope a child molester shielder. But a false accuser enabler or something.

[RJS1950]

Why should anyone care or give credence to what the pope, or any religious "leader" thinks?

[Charles Martel]

How about the unbearably bright light of a tactical nuke?

Hmmm.

“Behold the star, which they saw in the east, went before them..."

[Publius6961]

As a Catholic, I can say it: Unless he is speaking Ex Cathedra, he should keep his mouth shut.

[thoughtomator]

The Pope himself is a senile old man who could not possibly be in control of the Vatican bureaucracy. No, he is simply a fool who has allowed himself to be used as a figurehead by the agents of transnational socialism.

[madison10]

Catholics out there. Why is the pope trying to get closer to the Muslims instead of converting them? Does anyone know?

Non-Catholic answer: Because whether one believes it, or not, or likes it, or not--the world is heading toward One World Religion whether it is just Islam or a combination of major religions ie The Liberal *"Church" (which is all smoochy-huggy with Islam) & Islam. It's coming.

Conservative Christians, Catholic & Protestant, regardless of nation, will pay a price.

[MineralMan]

"Why should anyone care or give credence to what the pope, or any religious "leader" thinks?"

Interesting question. Do you include the preachers from the "Christian Right" in your category, or just those who disagree with your point of view?

Christians everywhere pay attention to what their leaders tell them, on everything from abortion to politics. Are you suggesting that we ignore them all?