Pope John Paul II will dispatch a special envoy to Iraq to emphasise his plea for peace and to encourage Iraqi authorities to cooperate with the United Nations, the Vatican announced.
Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, emeritus president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, will leave Rome on Monday for Baghdad, accompanied by a counselor, Monsignor Franco Coppola.
Their mission is to "show to all the plea of the Holy Father in favor of peace and to help the Iraqi authorities to seriously reflect on the need for effective international cooperation, based on justice and international rights, with the aim of assuring this population of the supreme good of peace," papal spokesman said.
The Vatican has been outspoken in its opposition to a new Iraq conflict, with top clerics saying a preventive US-led attack would have no legal or moral justification. The pontiff himself has said war against Iraq would be a "defeat for humanity."
Pope John Paul reiterated his concerns Sunday, telling crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square for his weekly appearance: "In this hour of international concern, we all feel the need to turn ourselves to the Lord to implore the great gift of peace."
The Pope was a vocal opponent of the 1991 Gulf War, and has frequently spoken out in opposition to UN sanctions imposed on Baghdad after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Etchegaray previously has served as the pope's envoy to trouble spots, most recently to the Middle East, where he tried to help end the standoff last year between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
He visited Iraq in 1998 for a religious conference and to look into a possible papal trip, which never occurred.
The Pope plans to meet with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in Rome on Friday the day UN weapons inspectors are to deliver progress reports to the UN Security Council. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also was to meet with the pontiff on February 18th.