"Never again the logic of war"” “

“Never shall we be happy with one man pitted against the other; never shall the future of humanity be determined by terrorism and the logic of war”. The Pope’s cri de coeur on Sunday 23 February continues to reverberate also in the numerous appeals for peace made in recent days in various countries and by various confessions. Scotland The Pope’s appeal for peace in Iraq is shared by the Scottish bishops, who will be in Rome next week (3-8 March) for their ad limina visit. “We’ll be going to Rome at a time of great international uncertainty and anxiety – says Archbishop Keith O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh and president of the Scottish Episcopal Conference. Together with the members of other denominations and faiths, we wish to express our anxiety about the situation that threatens peace in Iraq. We unite ourselves with the invitation made by the Scottish Interreligious Council to the members of our various religious traditions to pray fervently for peace throughout the world”. As bishops “we are called to pray for peace and to a greater observance of the commandment of our Christian faith to love our neighbour as ourselves”. The bishops lastly thank John Paul II for his twenty-five years’ service to the Church and congratulate him in advance for this anniversary that will be celebrated throughout the world on 16 October 2003. Croatia If there is a war, the relations between Christians and Muslims “will deteriorate” and “become even more fraught”. That’s the view of the head of the Croatian Islamic community, the mufti Sevko Omerbasic, speaking about the USA-Iraq crisis in an interview with the Croatian daily “Vjesnik”, also carried by the “Ika” Catholic press agency. “In a religious perspective”, says the mufti, “Christians and Muslims recognize they are completely helpless in influencing current policies, which are being directed by other structures”. With regard to the Vatican position on the Iraqi crisis, Omerbasic points out that “the Pope has always been among the main champions of peace and has drawn attention to the gravest potential consequences that a war might have”, including the “real danger that the relations between the Islamic world and the West may degenerate”. With regard to the attitude of the Croatian government to the threatened war, Omerbasic calls its support of the USA, which “is one of the obligations it has assumed as part of the international community”, “an unfriendly gesture towards the Arab and Islamic world”. But “Iraq and its disarmament – explains the mufti – are problems of the UNO, and this should be considered independently of what we think of American intentions with regard to a war on Iraq”. France A 200-strong French delegation returned from a peace mission to the Holy Land on 23 February. The delegation, led by Msgr. Jean-Luc Brunin, auxiliary bishop of Lille, also included a Moslem theologian, a rabbi and a Protestant woman pastor. “Jews, Muslims and Christians – said Bishop Brunin – we walked in the land inhabited by men and woman to whom God revealed himself to make a covenant with them. Our religious journey was intended to help restore to these places their character of sanctity”. “We return – he added – with the desire to serve the unity of the human family, strengthened by our meeting with all those Israelis and Palestinians who believe in peace and strive to serve it in the promotion of justice and dialogue”.