Prison abuse 'more serious blow' than Sept. 11, Vatican official says

Published: 2004-05-12

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers is a "more serious blow to the United States than Sept. 11," the Vatican's leading foreign affairs specialist said. Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo said the prison scandal would fuel hatred of the West among Arab populations, with possible repercussions for Christians in the region. "The torture? A more serious blow for the United States than Sept. 11. Except that this blow was not inflicted by terrorists, but by the Americans themselves," he said in an interview published May 12 by the Rome newspaper La Repubblica. Archbishop Lajolo, the Vatican's equivalent of a foreign minister, said the reports and photos of alleged torture by U.S. guards and soldiers in Iraq represented "a tragic episode in relations with Islam."

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