Archbishop Martino, frustrated that the world’s media did not pick up on Pope John Paul’s call for “individual gestures of peace" as part of his message for the World Day of Peace, goes on Vatican Radio to relaunch the idea.
December 24, 2002 John Paul delivered his Christmas Eve homily. The Pope said: “The Child laid in a lowly manger: this is God’s sign. The centuries and the millennia pass, but the sign remains, and it remains valid for us too—the men and women of the third millennium. It is a sign of hope for the whole human family; a sign of peace for those suffering from conflicts of every kind; a sign of freedom for the poor and oppressed; a sign of mercy for those caught up in the vicious circle of sin; a sign of love and consolation for those who feel lonely and abandoned."
December 25, 2002 The Pope delivered his Christmas Day meditation. It contained his first clear reference, albeit indirect, to the possibility of war in Iraq. He said: “Christmas is a mystery of peace! From the cave of Bethlehem there rises today an urgent appeal to the world not to yield to mistrust, suspicion and discouragement, even though the tragic reality of terrorism feeds uncertainties and fears. Believers of all religions, together with men and women of goodwill, by outlawing all forms of intolerance and discrimination, are called to build peace: in the Holy Land, above all, to put an end once and for all to the senseless spiral of blind violence, and in the Middle East, to extinguish the ominous smoldering of a conflict which, with the joint efforts of all, can be avoided."
January 1, 2003 John Paul II formally issued his annual message for the World Day of Peace, building upon the fortieth anniversary of Pope John XXIII’s famed encyclical Pacem in Terris. John Paul wrote: “With the profound intuition that characterized him, John XXIII identified the essential conditions for peace in four precise requirements of the human spirit: truth, justice, love and freedom. Truth will build peace if every individual sincerely acknowledges not only his rights, but also his own duties toward others. Justice will build peace if in practice everyone respects the rights of others and actually fulfills his duties toward them. Love will build peace if people feel the needs of others as their own and share what they have with others, especially the values of mind and spirit that they possess. Freedom will build peace and make it thrive if, in the choice of the means to that end, people act according to reason and assume responsibility for their own actions."
The Pope delivered his New Year’s Day homily. He said: “In the face of the events that unsettle the planet, it is very clear that only God can touch the depths of the human soul; his peace alone can restore hope to humanity. We need him to turn his face toward us, to bless us, to protect us and give us his peace. . . . Today despite the serious, repeated attacks on the peaceful harmony of peoples, peace is possible and necessary. Indeed, peace is the most precious good to ask of God and to build with every effort, by means of concrete gestures of peace on the part of every man and woman of goodwill. . . . Faced with today’s conflicts and the threatening tensions of the moment, once again I ask you to pray to find the ‘peaceful means’ for a solution inspired by ‘a desire for genuine and constructive dialogue,’ in harmony with the principles of international law."
In his Angelus address for New Year’s Day the Pope said: “Today I ask each person to make his/her contribution to foster and bring about peace, through generous choices of reciprocal understanding, reconciliation, forgiveness and concrete attention to those in need. Concrete ‘gestures of peace’ are necessary in families, in the workplace, in communities, in civil life as a whole, in national and international public gatherings. Above all, we must never stop praying for peace. . . . How can we not express once more the wish that world leaders do everything in their power to find peaceful solutions to the many tensions present in the world, especially in the Middle East, avoiding further suffering for those peoples who have been so sorely tried? May human solidarity and law prevail!"
January 4, 2003 Martino gave an interview to Rome’s La Repubblica in which he once again criticized America’s apparent willingness to go to war in Iraq without United Nations support. “Evidently, unilateralism is unacceptable," Martino said. “We cannot think that there is a universal policeman who takes it upon himself to punish those who act badly. . . . The United States, being part of the international assembly, has to adapt to the exigencies of others."
January 7, 2003 John Paul’s forceful language about peace, widely interpreted as criticism of American policy in Iraq, brought an unusual rebuke from conservative Italian political analyst Ernesto Galli della Loggia, in a front-page opinion piece in Italy’s most read daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera. Della Loggia is normally a booster of the Wojtyla pontificate. “Does anyone remember papal pronouncements comparable to those of recent weeks on the occasion of that terrible decade-long war unleashed by Saddam Hussein against Iraq in 1980? And the roughly 200,000 Kurds massacred with Saddam’s gas in the mid-1980s; how many protests were raised by the Holy See commensurate with the enormity of the crime? To speak frankly," Della Loggia wrote, “the impression is that it’s only when the issue is the West, and more specifically the United States, that the Pope’s voice becomes a tuning fork and the Catholic world expresses its maximum mobilization ‘in favor of peace.’ "
January 8, 2003 In an interview with the National Catholic Reporter, Auxiliary Bishop Andraos Abouna of Baghdad expressed gratitude for the papal peace initiative. “When the Pope speaks about Baghdad, he does so from the heart, because this is the land of Abraham, the first believer in God. For us it is the Holy Land," said Abouna, who was ordained a bishop by John Paul in a January 6 ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, along with eleven other new bishops from seven countries. Abouna—who helped pull charred bodies out of the Amiriya bomb shelter in Baghdad, which was obliterated by U.S. stealth bombers on February 13, 1991, killing six hundred to one thousand civilians—was also realistic about the likely impact of the Vatican interventions. “Politicians act in their own interest, often for economic reasons," he said. “They don’t so much care what religious leaders say."
January 13, 2003 The Pope delivered his annual address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. John Paul offered, for the first time, a direct public statement of opposition to a war in Iraq: “War is not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity. International law, honest dialogue, solidarity between States, the noble exercise of diplomacy: these are methods worthy of individuals and nations in resolving their differences. I say this as I think of those who still place their trust in nuclear weapons and of the all-too-numerous conflicts which continue to hold hostage our brothers and sisters in humanity. . . . The solution will never be imposed by recourse to terrorism or armed conflict, as if military victories could be the solution. And what are we to say of the threat of a war which could strike the people of Iraq, the land of the Prophets, a people already sorely tried by more than twelve years of embargo? War is never just another means that one can choose to employ for settling differences between nations. As the Charter of the United Nations Organization and international law itself remind us, war cannot be decided upon, even when it is a matter of ensuring the common good, except as the very last option and in accordance with very strict conditions, without ignoring the consequences for the civilian population both during and after the military operations." The Pope also called on all nations to respect international agreements. “Today political leaders have at hand highly relevant texts and institutions. It is enough simply to put them into practice," he said. “The world would be totally different if people began to apply in a straightforward manner the agreements already signed!"
U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See James Nicholson was interviewed on Vatican Radio following the Pope’s address to the diplomats. Nicholson was asked by the host how he squared the Pope’s language on international agreements with the U.S. track record of refusing to join the Kyoto Accord, pulling out of the Antiballistic Missile Treaty, and declining to recognize the new International Crimi
nal Court. Nicholson’s response was that the Pope was speaking not of these matters, but of Iraq and North Korea and their refusal to live up to international agreements. In that sense, Nicholson argued, the Pope and Bush were saying the same thing.
January 15, 2003 Nicholson announced that he had invited conservative American Catholic intellectual Michael Novak, known as a supporter of the Bush administration’s approach to the war on terrorism, to lecture in Rome and meet with Vatican officials. The purpose of his visit was to discuss the moral issues surrounding application of the “just war" theory to the conflict in Iraq. Novak’s arrival was expected in early February.
January 16, 2003 The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a “doctrinal note" entitled “On Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life." While it did not address the Iraq issue, it did distance the Church from certain forms of antiwar protest. “Finally, the question of peace must be mentioned," the document says. “Certain pacifistic and ideological visions tend at times to secularize the value of peace, while, in other cases, there is the problem of summary ethical judgments which forget the complexity of the issues involved. Peace is always ‘the work of justice and the effect of charity.’ It demands the absolute and radical rejection of violence and terrorism and requires a constant and vigilant commitment on the part of all political leaders."
January 18, 2003 Antiwar demonstrations dominated news reports from various parts of the world, including the United States. On the occasion, Martino told reporters in Rome that he hoped “governments will take into consideration the sentiments of their citizens" as expressed in the demonstrations. To defeat terrorism, Martino said, “it’s necessary to address the political, economic and cultural causes that determine it," and he invited the West to an “examination of conscience." A final decision on war in Iraq, Martino said, “depends upon the United Nations and the international community."
January 24, 2003 Cardinal Kasper, in remarks to the National Catholic Reporter after a lecture in Perugia, predicted that Novak’s effort to persuade Rome of the morality of a possible preventive war in Iraq would fail. “I am of the opinion of the Pope himself, and of the Secretariat of State, of the Roman Curia," Kasper said. “I do not think all the methods of peaceful negotiations, of diplomatic relations, have been exhausted." With respect to a possible U.S.-led attack on Iraq, Kasper said, “I do not see how the requirements for a just war can be met at this time. A war would touch the poorest of the poor, not Saddam Hussein," Kasper said. “Women and children and sick people would have to suffer, and we should consider the destiny of such people." Kasper echoed concern about Muslim reaction. “Very often the Muslims make an identification, which is wrong but they do it, between Christianity and the West," Kasper said. “I think this war could become a very heavy problem and could destabilize the entire region of the Middle East. . . . I don’t think I have all the information about Iraq, it is impossible, but as much as I have, I am not in favor of this war. . . . I think we should use other means to solve these questions. I do not defend Saddam Hussein, nobody would. But there are also other means to resolve the questions of peace and justice in the world," he said.
January 29, 2003 Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano held a lunch for Italian journalists in which he spoke against the war in sharp terms. “I said to an old American friend: didn’t the lesson of Vietnam teach you anything?" Sodano said, as quoted in Italian press reports. “The Holy See is against the war, it’s a moral position," Sodano said. “There’s not much to discuss, whether it’s a preventive war or nonpreventive, because this is an ambiguous term. It’s certainly not a defensive war. The keys in this moment are in the hands of the United States and Great Britain, and we’re trying to provoke reflection not so much on whether it’s just or unjust, moral or immoral, but whether it’s worth it. From the outside we can appear idealists, and we are, but we are also realists. Is it really a good idea to irritate a billion Muslims? Not even in Afghanistan are things going well," Sodano said. “For this reason we have to insist on asking the question if it’s a good idea to go to war."
January 30, 2003 Tauran criticized a preventive war in response to reporters’ questions at a conference sponsored by the Association of Volunteers for International Service in Rome. “People are talking about a preventive war, but the question we must put before ourselves is how to prevent the war," Tauran said. “We are not pacifists, we are realists," Tauran said, but added that in this case a strike against Iraq does not pass the “just war" test. He mentioned the traditional criteria of proportionality and protection of civilian populations. “Specifically, a war would exacerbate extremism and threaten to inflame the situation in the Middle East. These are two obvious concerns," Tauran said. Asked if the Vatican’s position would change should the United Nations approve a strike, he seemed to suggest it would not. “A UN resolution would be a different track," he said. “It would address the legality of the action. But humanitarian and moral concerns would remain." Tauran denied that the U.S. embassy to the Holy See was applying extraordinary pressure. “We are having conversations, but they are calm and serene," Tauran said. “I would say they are persevering in making their argument." Finally, Tauran was asked if the Pope might try some gesture of peace in the near future, such as sending emissaries to Baghdad and Washington. “We’re thinking about it," Tauran said. “Something might happen in the coming days. But for now there is no concrete plan of action."
February 1, 2003 The Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, said American policy in Iraq lacked intelligence. “To define a preventive war as a sensible act means not to have, or not to know how to exercise, the intelligence necessary at certain levels," L’Osservatore stated in its February 1 Italian edition. In another article, the official Vatican newspaper wrote that “the international media, determined to understand in the nuances of diplomatic statements the possible development of the Iraqi situation, often forget to concentrate attention on the principal victim of the crisis: the civilian population. Tested by a long embargo and vexed by a dictatorial regime, the Iraqi people [have] lived for months under the exhausting threat of a conflict."
February 3, 2003 American Cardinal Francis Stafford, at the time the president of the Pontifical Council for Laity, put out a statement asserting that “the American government has not offered conclusive evidence of imminent danger to its national security" sufficient to justify a war. Stafford had been contacted by Inside the Vatican magazine and released a written statement to several press outlets in Rome. “The concept of a ‘preventive’ war is ambiguous," Stafford wrote. “ ‘Prevention’ does not have a limit; it is a relative term and is subject to self-serving interpretations. Objective criteria must be applied with intellectual rigor. The threat must be clear, active and present, not future. Nor has the American administration shown that all other options before going to war have proven ‘impractical or ineffective,’ " he wrote. Stafford contrasted the call to arms coming from the political leadership of America, Britain, and Iraq with John Paul II’s call to youth to be agents of peace and hope.
February 4, 2003 Martino gave an interview to the National Catholic Reporter in which he discussed the Iraq war, arguing that Catholic “just war" doctrine is undergoing an evolution similar to that on capital punishment, from grudging acceptance to a quasi-abolitionist stance. In both cases, he said, modern society has the means to resolve problems without the use of lethal force. Thus the Catholic response to a preventive war in Iraq is negative. “I would draw a parallel with the death penalty," Martino said. “In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, there is an admission that the death penalty could be needed in extreme cases. But Pope John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae said that society has all the means now to render a criminal harmless, who before might have been sent to the gallows. This could well apply to the case of war. Modern society has to have, and I think it has, the means to avoid war," Martino said.
Martino argued tha
t nonviolent alternatives exist to a preventive war in Iraq. “Resolution 1441 provides all the elements in order to solve the problem without going to war," he said. “If there is indeed any proof [that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction], the inspectors are ready to receive them, and to proceed to either destroy them or render them harmless. Let’s try this first." Martino allowed for the “extreme possibility" of war, if convincing proof is offered and Iraq refuses to disarm, but said even then the means of the war would have to be just, meaning protecting civilian populations, and the potential consequences of conflict would have to be weighed. “There will be an increase in terrorist acts, I’m sure," Martino said. “There will be fire, tumult, all over the Middle East. The oil supplies could suffer. The environment could be endangered, as happened in the Gulf War, and in an even worse manner this time.
“Another element to take into account is world public opinion," Martino said. “Everybody is against the war." Pointing to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Martino challenged Bush and the West to resolve it before striking Iraq. “There is a double standard. We already have a war. Why don’t you stop that one instead of starting another one?" Martino expressed strong skepticism about the motives of the Bush administration for seeking conflict. Asked if, like the semiofficial Vatican journal Civiltà Cattolica , he believed oil was a factor, he was indirect but clear. “I don’t have the list of the advantages that those who want the conflict are seeking," he said. “But I can say that it’s not excluded that this is on the list of advantages." So when Donald Rumsfeld says oil has nothing to do with it, Martino finds that hard to believe? “I’m not the only one," he said.
Martino said that Western policy makers should examine their own responsibility for global conflicts. “Why do we impose our cultural patterns, of consumption, of corruption, of sex, of whatever, on the other parts of the world? They get fed up with that," he said. “When developing nations have been given promises of help, of debt forgiveness, and they are not kept, this causes frustration," Martino said. “That frustration can translate into terrorism. When a young man doesn’t foresee anything for his future, being dead or alive is about equal. I always say that terrorism can be eradicated not only by rendering harmless one or two thousand terrorists, but by searching for the causes of terrorism," Martino said. “Those causes are three kinds: political, economic and cultural. If we examine our conscience, we can say that there has been, and there is, oppression on these three fronts." Martino stopped short of counseling Catholic men and women in the U.S. armed forces to refuse to cooperate in the event of war. “The responsibility is not theirs, it is of those who send them," he said.
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