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Pope steps up diplomatic pressure
By Peter Gould
BBC News Online correspondent
The Pope with his latest envoy, Cardinal Pio Laghi
Could the Pope make a dramatic effort to prevent war in Iraq with a personal plea to the United Nations?
The speculation follows the decision by John Paul II to send an envoy to Washington to urge President Bush to avoid military conflict.
According to a French news agency, quoting an unnamed Vatican source, the pontiff would be prepared to fly to New York if other efforts at diplomacy fail.
The Vatican swiftly denied that such an intervention was being planned, or had even been considered.
But Agence France-Presse said it had been told the idea came up when the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, visited the Pope at the Vatican.
Papal envoy
John Paul II has addressed the United Nations twice during his papacy, first in 1979, and then in 1995 to mark the 50th anniversary of the UN organisation.
President Bush: Unlikely to heed papal appeals
Now aged 82, his frailty makes it more difficult to undertake journeys outside the Vatican.
But in recent weeks, he has appeared stronger, and has spoken with vigour about the need to avoid war.
He has already sent one papal envoy to Baghdad to meet Saddam Hussein, and another is now in Washington for talks with President Bush.
The man trusted with the latest mission is Cardinal Pio Laghi, a retired Vatican diplomat who was once the Holy See's ambassador to the United States.
He knows the Bush family personally, but that may not make his task any easier, given the military build-up in the Gulf and the feeling that war is now imminent.
"I hope to establish a dialogue with President Bush," he said, before boarding his plane for Washington.
"Some say the war has already begun. We don't believe that this is so."
Dramatic
But others feel this appeal is hardly likely to change the mind of the US president, prompting speculation about the Pope taking his message direct to the Security Council.
Some say the war has already begun...we don't believe that
Cardinal Pio Laghi
Papal envoy
On the eve of war, it would be a dramatic gesture from the spiritual leader of the world's one billion Catholics, a man who has spoken with passion about the need to find peace.
So could it happen?
"This is the kind of action that would appeal to the Pope, but time is running out," said Father Thomas Reese, editor of the Catholic magazine 'America'.
Archbishop Renato Martino, formerly the Vatican's man at the UN, was cautious. "It is up to the Pope himself to make such a decision," he said.
If the Pope did decide to address the United Nations, a visit to New York would also give him the opportunity to visit Ground Zero.
Fasting
It is suggested that by praying at the site of the World Trade Center, he could combine his appeal for American restraint with a public gesture of sympathy for the nation's suffering.
Kofi Annan recently met the Pope at the Vatican
The Pope has warned that a war would only add to the misery of the Iraqi people, and has appealed for "just decisions".
He believes that military action against Iraq could escalate into a confrontation between western and Islamic civilisations.
Vatican observers say the Pope has thrown all his energy into his efforts to avert war, making his public comments in a firm, clear voice.
"He has been more alert in the last few days, as though he wanted to give us more strength," said Cardinal Laghi, referring to the Pope's health problems.
Today, as the papal envoy is preparing to deliver his appeal to President Bush, the Pope is encouraging Christians around the world to fast for peace.
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Romans 9:11-24
Our Eschatology may vary even our Ecclesiology may be disputed among us but our Soteriology most assume a singularity and exclusivity which in biblical term is known as Quote; "The Narrow Way" and Quote!
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