As another war looms in the Middle East because of Iraq’s refusal to disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday urged world leaders to settle the problem through peaceful means.
"We live in one world. We belong to each other as members of the same human family under God. We must settle our differences through negotiation and dialogue, in non-violent ways — in every peaceful way possible," the CBCP said in a statement signed by CBCP president and Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo.
The CBCP particularly called on leaders of the United Nations, the United States and Iraq to settle without recourse to arms "grave issues that threaten to become causes of war."
"If war must be resorted to, it must be absolutely the last resort," they stressed.
In a bid to find a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis, the UN earlier resumed its arms inspection in Iraq, which the Iraqi government has accepted.
The Philippine bishops appealed to world leaders for UN Inspections Teams to be given more time to do their work and for Iraq to cooperate fully with the UN.
"We strongly appeal to the US and its allies not to launch an offensive against Iraq without explicit authorization from the UN," said Quevedo, adding that Philippine authorities should also not support any preemptive strike.
Quevedo is hoping that President Arroyo would heed the CBCP’s call and make an emphatic stand not to support the war.
Although the UN might give war a sense of legality, Quevedo said "our Christian sense of peace would require especially in these most uncertain times the higher demands of justice, peace, and love."
Quevedo disclosed that what he feared most is that if war is initiated by the US, there is always the threat of an Iraqi counter-attack by means of weapons of mass destruction.