Be careful what you ask for: Bush may get papal dressing down

Published: 2004-05-14

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- President George W. Bush's much-sought-after election-year meeting with Pope John Paul II may end up illustrating the modern proverb: "Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it." Less than 48 hours after the White House officially announced the papal audience, some of the most critical comments ever voiced by the Vatican on the Iraqi war were making newspaper headlines around the world. Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican's foreign minister, described the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal as "a more serious blow to the United States than Sept. 11" and predicted it would foment more anti-Western hatred in the Arab world. He said the United Nations should intervene in Iraq and the United States should find a way to withdraw honorably. Iraqis needs a leader who speaks Arabic, not English, and the whole war illustrates the limits of U.S. military power, he said. Then he added a "we told you so": "The pope spoke very clearly (against the war). If they had listened to him, they wouldn't have so many regrets today."

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