ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 4, 1991                   TAG: 9103040243
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: VATICAN CITY                                LENGTH: Short

IRAQI CATHOLIC LEADER: ALLIES GUILTY OF GENOCIDE

Pope John Paul II on Sunday prayed for strength for Kuwaitis and peace for Iraq, but Baghdad's visiting Catholic patriarch accused the allies of genocide against his people.

Raphael Bidawid I, among the church leaders summoned by the pope for a special meeting about the Persian Gulf War beginning today, told reporters "it wasn't a war, it was a genocide."

"These nations," he said, referring to the allies, "should feel pretty guilty. It was a vendetta, a shame for humanity."

- Associated Press 


 by CNB