Pope’s new convert an architect of Iraq war

IN his Christmas message, Pope Benedict XVI called for the Child Jesus to “bestow upon political leaders the wisdom and courage to seek and find humane, just and lasting solutions” to world conflicts, including “the whole of the Middle East — especially Iraq”.

And yet he made this statement only a matter of days after the Vatican declared its “satisfaction” at the warm welcome given to Tony Blair, an architect of the conflict in Iraq, on his conversion to Catholicism.

Aside from the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and the resultant instability throughout the region, the decision to invade Iraq has had one other significant consequence: the decimation of Christianity within Iraq.