Home > News

Australian Bishops back Pope’s ‘no to war’ campaign


Australian Catholic bishops have spoken out in support of a call by Pope John Paul II last week for world leaders to say ‘No to War’.

Addressing a gathering of the diplomatic corps at the Vatican on Monday, the Pope said the answer to avoiding war lies in observing international law, engaging in honest dialogue and diplomacy, and rejecting the culture of death.

Australian Catholic Social Justice Council chairman, Bishop William Morris of Toowoomba (pictured), said the council was 100% behind the Pope’s comments.

The Council has pleaded that Australia not follow the United States along the way to a pre-emptive strike but support dialogue.

Auxiliary Bishop Patrick Power of Canberra and Goulburn, who has marched in several peace rallies, said it was wonderful to read the Pope’s comments, ‘because he is recognised, not just as a world leader, but as a man totally committed to peace’.

Bishop Power said the Pope’s statement reflected the views of people around the world, and certainly people throughout Australia.

SOURCE
Catholic Leader

LINKS
Holy See Believes War in Iraq Is Still Avoidable (Zenit)
Pope 'doing everything' to stop Iraq war (14/1/03)


ITALIAN JESUITS' HARSH CRITIQUE OF US IRAQ STANCE

The authoritative Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica has published another sharp attack on US policy toward Iraq.

"Why is Saddam Hussein so dangerous that he must be stopped by a preventive war?" the Jesuit magazine asked, in a long article signed by the editors.

The article charges that an American attack on Iraq would be motivated in large part by political and economic reasons rather than military necessity.

Civilta Cattolica points to the "rude reality" that Saddam Hussein is only one of many unsavory dictators in the world. In fact, the magazine states, some dictators enjoy the support of the United States.

And while the Iraqi regime is accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction, the US also hold nuclear weapons- and has built chemical and biological weapons as well.

The article in Civilta Cattolica commands attention because the magazine's contents are reviewed in advance by the Vatican Secretariat of State.

SOURCE
Catholic World News

LINKS
La Civilta Cattolica

Document Source: CathNews (17 Jan 2003)

Page last modified: Friday, 21 February, 2003
Document path: http://carmelite.com/news/nowar.shtml