Canadian bishops and Iraq.

In the May issue we carried a News in Brief item on the Pope and the threatened US attack on Iraq. The following item was omitted due to a shortage of space.

Ottawa -- On February 20, Canadian religious leaders, among whom was Bishop Brendan O'Brien, chairman of the CCCB's ecumenism commission, wrote Prime Minister Jean Chretien, explaining that they were "deeply troubled by the haste toward military action in the Gulf."

More than a week earlier, Bishop Francois Thibodeau had written the Prime Minister on behalf of the CCCB's social affairs commission, urging diplomatic, not military, measures. So did the Canadian Council of Churches. As is now usual with the PM, he never responded.

As for Mr Chretien's so-called consultation of Parliament, it consisted of one brief evening session in the Commons at which he announced that Canada was sending a ship and some jet fighters to the Gulf in support of the American military action (CNN).

The Canadian bishops - following in the footsteps of the Vatican - have also protested the continuing economic sanctions against Iraq. The Vatican has traditionally opposed all economic boycotts or sanctions on the grounds that they punish the poor and the ordinary people most cruelly, while remaining ineffective as political tools.