Pope to send envoy to Baghdad to try to ease Iraq crisis

Associated Press ^ | February 9, 2003 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Pope to send envoy to Baghdad to try to ease Iraq crisis

02/09/2003

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II will dispatch an envoy to Iraq in a plea for peace and to encourage Baghdad to cooperate with the United Nations, the Vatican said Sunday.

Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, emeritus president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, will leave for Baghdad on Monday with a counselor, Monsignor Franco Coppola.

The mission will seek to "show to all the plea of the Holy Father in favor of peace and to help the Iraqi authorities to make a series of reflections on the need for effective international cooperation, based on justice and international rights, with the aim of assuring this population the supreme good of peace," Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement Sunday.

The Vatican opposes a new Iraq conflict, and top clerics have said a preventive strike would have no legal or moral justification. The pontiff has previously said war against Iraq would be a "defeat for humanity."

John Paul reiterated his concerns Saturday, saying "it has become ever more urgent to announce the 'Gospel of peace' to a humanity greatly tested by hatred and violence.

Etchegaray has served as the pope's envoy to trouble spots before, most recently to the Holy Land. On that trip last year, he tried to help end the standoff between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity. He has also visited Iraq on missions for the pope.

The pope plans to meet with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz on Friday, the day weapons inspectors are to deliver a crucial progress report to the U.N. Security Council. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was expected to meet with the pontiff on Feb. 18.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/world/stories/020903dnintvatican.3d064.html

[MeekOneGOP]

The mission will seek to "show to all the plea of the Holy Father in favor of peace and to help the Iraqi authorities to make a series of reflections on the need for effective international cooperation, based on justice and international rights, with the aim of assuring this population the supreme good of peace," Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement Sunday.

And when they find that the Iraq authorities are not going to fully and sincerely cooperate (i.e., disarm immediately), then they should tell them...

[Catspaw]

LOL! I was going to suggest DUCK!

[Cicero]

At least the Pope is motivated by real charity and love of peace, not by fear, greed, and envy, as is the case with the French and Germans.

[and the horse you rode in on]

CArdinal Law has a lot of time on his hands these days and if he was still there when the bombing started, he would be no great loss.

[Search4Truth]

Hey, with a little luck, maybe the Pope can delay this action against the "Butcher of Baghdad" long enough to allow him to develop a nuclear weapon and unleash Armageddon.

The Catholic Church has been very busy protecting abortion, pedophiles, and now, the Butcher of Baghdad. What a legacy.

They really do live in their own world. One afforded them by men who destroy evil, not embrace it.

[MeekOneGOP]

At least the Pope is motivated by real charity and love of peace...

Amen ! Unlike Islamic Fundamentalists.

...not by fear, greed, and envy, as is the case with the French and Germans.

Yep. And the Islamic Fundamentalists are envious of us and hate us and want to see us destroyed. The French and Germans are as much at risk as we are by Iraq, if not even more...

Speaking of the French and the Germans...have you seen this bit of humor?...

French PM: "It's Great to Be Collaborating with Germany Again!"

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[RecentConvert]

"At least the Pope is motivated by real charity and love of peace, not by fear, greed, and envy, as is the case with the French and Germans."

So true.

[bonfire]

Absolutely the best cartoon! Love it!

[joyful1]

Hey, I got my post pulled out for the first time!!

I simply implied the pope mite send an envoy of pediphiles to negotiate a treaty, and I got pulled!

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks...

[MeekOneGOP]

Hey, I got my post pulled out for the first time!!

I simply implied the pope mite send an envoy of pediphiles to negotiate a treaty, and I got pulled!

I noticed #5 was deleted when I came back to the thread yesterday. I didn't hit the abuse button. Don't know who did...

[Chancellor Palpatine]

For a very interesting read, there is a new book out, "The Demon in the Freezer", by Richard Preston. He authored a nonfiction book several years ago called "The Hot Zone" about the mechanics of Ebola and how close it came to spreading here. This time, he writes about weaponized anthrax and smallpox. It is spookier than hell. Bottom line is that in 1995, there was no question that the Iraqis had a facility for the manufacture of smallpox, and we wanted to destroy it, but the French objected because they built it. Apparently it would endanger their other commercial ventures in Iraq. My guess is that the Germans are neck deep in it, too.

And these are the Vatican's allies on this issue.

[Catspaw]

Bottom line is that in 1995, there was no question that the Iraqis had a facility for the manufacture of smallpox, and we wanted to destroy it, but the French objected because they built it. Apparently it would endanger their other commercial ventures in Iraq. My guess is that the Germans are neck deep in it, too.

It's sad, really, that Aziz has gone running to the Pope and the Pope responded to these Iraqi thugs. I don't know why he's chosen to get involved.

I do expect us to find a lot of evidence that France and Germany have helped build up Iraq's WMD after the inevitable war.