Threat of
War
Diplomatic blitz for peace
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome
While it’s true, as Joseph Stalin observed, that the pope has
no divisions, he has a unique bully pulpit, a roster of ambassadors and enough
informal channels of activism to make himself a formidable player in global
diplomacy, even without the normal military accouterment.
John Paul II has put those resources to work to try to stop a war
in Iraq, and in mid-February that activity reached a crescendo, with visits by
Iraqi Vice Premier Tariq Aziz, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and German
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, plus an extraordinary mission to Baghdad by
papal emissary Cardinal Roger Etchegaray. The next installment in the campaign
was to come Feb. 22, with a visit from British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Speculation continues to circulate in Rome that the pope may also
send an emissary to U.S. President George Bush to make the case for peace.
The papal antiwar line prompted robust Catholic participation in a
Feb. 16 peace march in Rome, reportedly the world’s largest on a day of
pro-peace demonstrations across the globe. Even traditionally conservative
Catholic movements such as Comunione e Liberazione joined the protests, which
brought some 1 million people into the Roman streets.
In this diplomatic blitz, the Vatican has struggled to remain
above the political fray, calling equally on the United States to stand down
but also for Iraq to disarm. Yet some Vatican rhetoric continues to be sharply
critical of U.S. policy, and some symbolism surrounding the Aziz visit,
especially the presence of an Eastern-rite Catholic bishop once convicted of
running arms to the PLO, hinted at an anti-U.S., anti-Israel tilt -- if not in
the Vatican, at least among some Catholic actors with whom the Vatican is
collaborating.
Aziz’s Feb. 13-16 trip to Italy was arranged by Fr. Jean
Marie Benjamin, 56, a French priest living in Italy who has written books,
produced documentary films and recorded songs against the U.N.-imposed
sanctions in Iraq as well as against a possible war.
Benjamin, who has known Aziz since 1998 and describes himself as a
friend, spoke Feb. 17 in an exclusive interview with NCR.
A former U.N. official and classical music composer, Benjamin told
NCR that he wrote on Jan. 12 to Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the
pope’s foreign minister, asking if the pope would receive Aziz if he came
to Rome. Tauran sent a reply by fax 48 hours later, Benjamin said, indicating
that if a request came from Iraq’s embassy to the Holy See, it would
receive a favorable reply.
Aziz, a member of the Chaldean Catholic church, met with the pope
Feb. 14, in a session scheduled for 15 minutes that actually lasted a
half-hour. Aziz later saw Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano and
Tauran.
A Vatican statement said Aziz assured church officials “of
the Iraqi government’s willingness to cooperate with the international
community, particularly in regard to disarmament.”
Speculation had surrounded the possibility that Aziz might invite
John Paul on a dramatic last-minute visit to Baghdad, but Aziz told reporters
during a Friday night news conference at Rome’s Foreign Press Club that
under current security conditions such a trip would be inadvisable. Vatican
spokesperson Joaquín Navarro-Valls said the idea of a trip was a
“closed chapter.”
Benjamin told NCR that he believes the Aziz trip produced
three results. First, he said, it reminded the world that Iraq is a lay
republic. “Certainly nobody from bin Laden’s circle would go pray at
the tomb of Francis, a Catholic saint,” Benjamin said.
Second, Benjamin said, the trip “reopened a door to dialogue
indirectly through the Holy See.” Finally, it made the point that Iraq
“has not threatened anyone.”
Yet Aziz did not project a consistently pacific image. In that
news conference at the Foreign Press Club, he generated new controversy when he
refused to take a question from a correspondent from Maariv, an Israeli
daily. “When I came to this press conference, it was not my intention to
take questions from the Israeli media,” Aziz said, flatly refusing to take
the question even when asked to do so by the president of the club. Boos,
whistles and some walkouts ensued, though the news conference went forward.
Later, Rome’s center-left mayor, Walter Veltroni, cancelled a
meeting with Aziz in light of what Veltroni called Aziz’s
“unacceptable” behavior.
The trip to Assisi, however, went ahead as planned. Fr. Vincenzo
Coli, custodian of the monastery, said the decision to welcome the Iraqi deputy
prime minister was not political.
“Here we follow the teachings of Francis,” Coli said.
“We never ask a pilgrim, ‘Who are you? What’s your
program?’ ”
Etchegaray, meanwhile, met Iraq’s president Saddam Hussein on
Saturday, Feb. 15, after several days of uncertainty. (Italian reports
suggested that the 80-year-old French cardinal was shuffled around various
sites in Baghdad for almost two hours before the meeting, apparently in light
of security concerns, before arriving in the office where he and Hussein spoke
for an hour and a half).
“He appeared to me a man in good health, seriously conscious
of his responsibilities, which he must face before his people,” Etchegaray
told reporters afterwards. “I’m convinced that today Saddam Hussein
wants to avoid war.”
Etchegaray said the Iraqi people need a “just and lasting
peace after many years of suffering, with whom the pope and the universal
church have always expressed their solidarity.”
While Vatican officials have privately said Etchegaray carried a
letter from John Paul II in which the pope urged Hussein to cooperate with
weapons inspectors and all United Nations resolutions, Etchegaray would only
say that he believes “peace is still possible in Iraq and for
Iraq.”
Annan’s Feb. 18 session with John Paul II was not expected to
produce dramatic new diplomatic initiatives. In a statement afterwards, the
Vatican said the two leaders found themselves in agreement on the
“essential role of the United Nations.” They also expressed the hope
that “just and effective solutions can yet be found to the challenges of
the moment, in respect of international law.”
Annan was also briefed by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the
Vatican’s secretary of state, and Etchegaray.
During his half-day visit to Assisi, Aziz visited the tomb of St.
Francis and was given a replica of one of the lamps lit last Jan. 24, when
leaders of the world’s religions joined John Paul II in Assisi to pray for
peace. He was also shown the ivory horn that St. Francis received in Egypt in
1219-1220, when Francis met with Sultan Melek el Kamel despite the bad blood
generated by the Crusades. The horn is considered a symbol of Christian/Muslim
understanding.
One curious footnote to the Assisi visit was the presence
alongside Aziz of Auxiliary Bishop Hilarion Cappuci, a member of the Syrian
Greek-Melkite church who served in Jerusalem in the 1960s and 1970s and holds
the personal title of “patriarch.” Cappuci told reporters he had come
to pray that “the angels return anew to sing in heaven of peace on
earth,” adding that he believes Iraq is serious about complying with the
terms of resolution 1441.
Some, however, might question Capucci’s credentials as a
peacemaker. He was arrested by Israeli security forces in 1974 on his way back
from a trip to Lebanon after his Mercedes sedan was found loaded with TNT and
rifles headed for the Palestinian Liberation Organization. At the time Capucci
belonged to Fatah, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s main faction,
and was a member of the PLO’s parliament-in-exile. He was sentenced to 12
years in prison, but released in 1977 after a personal appeal from Pope Paul
VI.
Capucci, now almost 82, has lived since 1977 in a private
apartment in Rome.
Some observers suggested that Capucci’s presence in Assisi
gave the visit an unavoidably political coloring. Benjamin, however,
didn’t see it that way.
“It would be incredible if a bishop of the Catholic church
couldn’t go to pray at the tomb of St. Francis,” Benjamin said.
“Everyone can go to Assisi, even followers of other religions. Why not
Capucci?”
John L. Allen Jr. is NCR Rome correspondent. His e-mail
address is jallen@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, February 28,
2003
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