Pope calls for fast in name of peace

POPE JOHN PAUL II has called on Catholics to fast on Ash Wednesday in the name of peace and yesterday repeated that he was worried a US-led war against Iraq could unsettle the entire MidEast.

Looking wan and tired, John Paul opened his traditional Sunday remarks from his studio window overlooking St Peter’s Square by denouncing war as a way to resolve the conflict.

“We Christians, in particular, are called upon to be sentinels of peace,” John Paul said, calling on Catholics to dedicate their fasting on Ash Wednesday, March 5, for the cause of peace.

On that day, the Pope said, the faithful will pray for “the conversion of hearts and the long-range vision of just decisions to resolve disputes with adequate and peaceful means”.

He said that the fast, which Catholics traditionally conduct at the start of Lent to prepare for Easter, is an “expression of penitence for the hate and violence which pollute human relations”.

Fasting was an ancient practice shared by other religions and also lets the faithful “shed themselves of all arrogance”, he said.

Rainbow-hued peace banners fluttered in the crowd of tourists and pilgrims in the square. Surveys have shown Italians and many other Europeans oppose war, even if waged under the aegis of the UN and earlier this month, about one million Italians marched through Rome to protest against the US and its push for using military force.

“It is the duty of all believers, to whichever religion they belong, to proclaim that we can never be happy pitted one against the other; the future of humanity will never be secured by terrorism and by the logic of war,” John Paul said.

Radical Party leaders yesterday denounced what they saw as the pontiff equating terrorism and war.