"Vatican Peace Offensive"
Pope John Paul II invites the Catholic world to "mobilize for peace" and to become "builders of peace". There will be widespread participation by Catholic groups in the February 15 demonstrations.
The Pope will meet with Iraq's vice-premier Aziz Feb 14 and with Kofi Annan on February 18. The Vatican intends to cement a firm alliance with the United Nations, to safeguard the system of international law which would be destabilized by a unilateral armed attack on Iraq by the US.
"We mustn't stop in the face of terrorist attacks, nor in the face of threats on the horizon. We must not become resigned that war is inevitable"
Television polls revealed that 90% of Italians favor the Pope visiting Baghdad, an "extraordinary gesture" that would counter US attempts at a unilateral strike.
Archbishop Renato Martino, head of the Pope's Ministry of Peace and Justice, underlined the illegitimacy of preventative war from a moral standpoint, as well as from the perspective of international law. He criticized the inconsistency of the proof offered by Colin Powell against Iraq. Martino denounced the horrifying prospect suggested by the delivery of 6000 coffins and 100,000 body bags to the NATO base at Sigonella in Sicily.