Pope makes final plea for peace
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Pope: "We invoke the precious gift of harmony."
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VATICAN CITY (CNN) -- With a U.S.-led war against Iraq looming, Pope John Paul II made yet another appeal for peace Wednesday.
It was almost a given the pope would use his weekly speech Wednesday to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square to once again push for peace.
The pope has become one of the strongest antiwar voices over the past several weeks, relentlessly campaigning for peace as tensions flared across the globe.
"As a man of peace, we pray to St. Joseph for those threatened by war and we invoke the precious gift of harmony upon the whole human family," John Paul told the crowd, on this special day honoring St. Joseph.
It was the first time the pope had spoken publicly since U.S. President George W. Bush gave Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a 48-hour ultimatum to accept exile or prepare for a U.S.-led invasion.
But it wasn't the Vatican's first response to the president's deadline.
"He who decides that all peaceful means that international law offers us are exhausted, assumes a great responsibility, in front of God, his conscience and history," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.
-- CNN Producer Flavia Taggiasco contributed to this story.
