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.”

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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.

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