Pope troubled by 'deplorable' Iraq events

A frail Pope turned on the world’s most powerful man today, telling President George Bush that he has been troubled by recent ”deplorable events”, an apparent reference to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops.

The president had an audience with the pontiff in the Vatican where John Paul reminded Bush of his opposition to the war in Iraq.

The president nodded and smiled as he greeted the 84-year-old pontiff, leaning down to hold his trembling hands.

Sitting alongside Bush, the pope called for a speedy return of the Iraq’s sovereignty and said the recent appointment of an interim Iraqi government was an “encouraging step".

“It is the evident desire of everyone that this situation now be normalised as quickly as possible with the active participation of the international community and, in particular, the United Nations Organisation, in order to ensure a speedy return of Iraq’s sovereignty, in conditions of security for all its people,” the Pope said.

In an indirect reference to US troops’ abuse of Iraqi prisoners, the pope said: “In the past few weeks, other deplorable events have come to light which have troubled the civic and religious conscience of all.”

He said those events “made more difficult a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values. In the absence of such a commitment, neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome”.

Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls declined to elaborate on the pope’s remarks, but did not dispute the characterisation that the comments referred to abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Calling the pontiff “a devoted servant of God”, Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award.

“We appreciate the strong symbol of freedom that you have stood for and we recognise the power of freedom to change societies and to change the world,” Bush said.

It was Bush’s third meeting with the Pope since becoming president – a measure of the importance both men place on the relationship.

Bush has aggressively chased Roman Catholic voters since he split the Catholic vote with Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000, and images of the Pope greeting him could promote his standing among a group that represents about a quarter of the US electorate.

More broadly, it reminds Bush’s Christian base that he shares core values with the Pope, such as an opposition to abortion.

Later, Bush was to hold talks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch US ally in the Iraq war.

The official agenda of Bush’s brief European trip is to honour the sacrifices and triumphs of the Second World War in Italy and France 60 years ago.

But the Iraq war looms large in Italy, where most people think the United States should pull troops out, and Bush was making his case again.

Thousands of police patrolled the streets of Rome as small groups of demonstrators marched around the capital, protesting at Bush’s visit.

Bush was accompanied to Rome by Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.