All roads lead to...
[ROME] Quick question: What do Joschka Fischer, Tariq Aziz and Kofi Annan have in common? OK, one could come up with lots of smart answers, but the fact is that they have all recently had private audiences here with the Pope. Now it's Tony Blair's turn.
The age-old issue of the "just war" is back on the agenda and many of the key players in the current drama are hoping that a photo op with the Pontiff will help their case. But Blair has the toughest task of the recent high-profile visitor to the Holy See because he has come out in favour of a strike against Saddam, while the Pope has stated that he is against war with Iraq.
On the face of it then, given the starkly different positions on the central issues, Blair has little to gain and a lot to lose by attempting to make his case here. But that would be a false reading of his political strategy. Strong moral arguments have been made down through history deposing tyrants and by presenting his point of view in this particular case, Blair gains the advantage of being regarded as a leader who is more a man of principles than the warmonger that his critics attempt to paint him as.
Blair, Fischer, Aziz and Annan are all very welcome guests at the Vatican these days because they keep the profile of the Catholic Church high and they demonstrate that the key western religious leader continues to be the Pope. His blessing still carries weight.
For the Catholic Church, there are other considerations involved in all this. Catholics form minorities in many countries where an Anglo-American led strike on Iraq might produce violent reaction and lead to attacks on Christians. Pakistan is the most obvious example.
So, is the Vatican a player in what is unfolding or are the leaders who come to see the Pope being as cynical as their hosts, as many would have us believe? It might be worth recalling the last great geopolitical tectonic shift here: "How many divisions does the Pope have?" Stalin is reputed to have mocked, when FDR suggested Pius XII might be consulted on Europe's fate. Where are Stalin's divisions now?
Diarist of the day: Beatrix Potter, 21 February 1885"I saw a most extraordinary tricycle pass today. A bath chair made of wicker work in which reclined a smart lady, and behind, where one should push, a gentleman treadling, puffing and blowing and looking very sheepish. I wonder any one will make such an exhibition of themselves. How the bicycles swarm now, and yet a few years since, every one turned around to stare at a velocipede!"
