Two Papal audiences

Pope John Paul II had some critical words for George W. Bush when they met earlier this week:

Pope John Paul II told US President George Bush yesterday the situation in Iraq must be "normalised as quickly as possible" as anti-Bush protests on the first day of his European visit fizzled out under blanket policing in Rome.

As expected, Iraq dominated the agenda in the first meeting between the war's chief protagonist and its sternest critic since the conflict began.
[...]
The highlight of Mr Bush's visit was his meeting with the Pope, a valuable opportunity to sway the important Catholic and Hispanic vote ahead of November's presidential elections.

But it was clear the meeting, while cordial, did little to clear up sharp differences over Iraq.

"It is the evident desire of everyone that this situation now be normalised as quickly as possible with the active participation of the international community and, in particular, the United Nations organisation," said John Paul II.

And he implicitly condemned the recently revealed abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers in Iraq, referring to "deplorable events" that had "troubled the civil and religious conscience of all, and made more difficult a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values".

Last February, just before the Iraq invasion began, the Pope met Tariq Aziz, Saddam's vile Vice President. He swallowed the "sanctions" line whole, but needless to say, the issue of prisoners under that Iraqi regime did not arise:

Pope John Paul II urged Iraq to take "concrete steps" to show that it is abiding by U.N. resolutions requiring it to disarm when he met Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.

The two exchanged views "on the known danger of a military action in Iraq which would further inflict sufferance on a population already weakened by many years of embargo," the Vatican said in a statement.

But when Aziz assured the pope about Iraq's intention to cooperate with the international community, the pontiff urged Iraq "to respect faithfully, with concrete commitments, the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council, which guarantees internationally legality," the statement said.

Posted by damian at June 5, 2004 11:49 AM