Code: ZE03020607
Date: 2003-02-06
War Would Be a "Disgrace for Humanity," Says Serbian Orthodox
VATICAN CITY, FEB. 6, 2003 (Zenit.org).-
A representative of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate told John Paul II that a
war against Iraq would be a "disgrace for humanity."
The representative,
Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro, is heading a delegation in Rome this
week, to promote ecumenical rapprochement with the Catholic Church.
When
the Orthodox metropolitan greeted the Holy Father today, he took advantage of
the occasion to make an appeal for peace in Iraq.
"In the 20th century
alone, our Church and our people were subjected to seven wars, and still today
they suffer from profound wounds, especially in Kosovo," Metropolitan Amfilohije
said.
This is why the Serbian Orthodox Church, "together with His
Holiness, requests the powerful of the earth, especially the United States and
its allies, not to get involved in a new war, on this occasion against Iraq," he
added.
"This new war would be a new defeat for all of us and a new
disgrace for the whole of humanity, and not just a humiliation and destruction
of the honest Iraqi people," he stressed.
The Serbian Orthodox Church
has 9 million faithful spread over 32 dioceses worldwide, including four in
North America, two in Western Europe, and two in Australia and New Zealand.