Pope to Proceed With Trip to Iraq
The Vatican has decided to go ahead with plans for Pope John Paul II to make a controversial pilgrimage to Iraq but may change the date from December to January, Vatican sources said Thursday.
The resumed planning indicated that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has provided the guarantees demanded by the Vatican that the pope’s presence not be politicized.
The Vatican canceled a trip to Baghdad by the Jesuit priest who acts as the pope’s advance man, and announced a “pause for reflection” this month after a group of Iraqi scholars leveled sharp criticism at a spiritual pilgrimage by the pope.
The U.S. and Britain oppose the visit to Iraq on the grounds that Hussein would exploit it politically.
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