The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Basil Hume, has expressed "strong doubts" over the US-British line on Iraq. In a letter to the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, the cardinal said he was aware of "considerable unease" in the Catholic community about military action against Iraq.
"It is clearly important to weigh in the balance the long-term consequences if the regime in Iraq is effectively able to develop and then use weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"I must confess, however, to having strong doubts personally about whether it is possible to identify a specific military objective which stands a good chance of being secured by the use of force at this time without causing disproportionate harm."
Many people would also want assurance that any action had the clear prior endorsement of the UN. "Otherwise," he continued, "the authority of the UN risks being severely undermined, with grave long-term consequences."
Expressing his hopes and prayers for the success of the continuing urgent efforts being made at the UN and elsewhere to secure a satisfactory agreement with Iraq without recourse to military action, Cardinal Hume wrote: "The recent history of the Middle East teaches us that armed conflicts rarely, if ever, solve anything, but always lead to innocent suffering and create a deeper enmity between peoples in the region, not least between those of different faiths."