BRITAIN: Leaders of Britain's two main Christian churches have joined forces to confront the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, about his claims that war on Iraq would be morally justified.
Spain's Catholic bishops also issued a statement yesterday calling for every effort to be made to find a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, issued a joint statement expressing doubts about the "moral legitimacy" of the war and calling for a continuation of weapons inspections. And they warned of the "unpredictable humanitarian and political consequences" of war.
But the churchmen's statement, drawn up at a recent private meeting, expressed "deep disquiet"about the possible consequences of an attack.
The churches' intervention came as a setback to Mr Blair, who responded to last week's million-strong march in London by vigorously asserting the "moral case for removing Saddam".
The statement came as the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, prepared to outline his moral arguments for tough action against Iraq today. In a speech to the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London, Mr Straw is to tell critics of a US-led war on Iraq that the will of the UN Security Council must be backed up with military muscle.
"UN inspectors would not be in Iraq today without the threat of force," Mr Straw will say. "But inspectors cannot achieve containment without co-operation - and, if co-operation is denied, the Security Council has already decreed that force must be used."
The statement by the church leaders said: "War is always a deeply disturbing prospect; one that can never be contemplated without a sense of failure and regret that other means have not prevailed, and deep disquiet about all that may come in its train.
"We are very conscious of the huge burden of responsibility carried by those who must make the ultimate decision in these matters. They are daily in our thoughts and prayers, as are all those who would find themselves caught up directly or indirectly in a war.
"We recognise that the moral alternative to military action cannot be inaction, passivity, appeasement or indifference. It is vital therefore that all sides in this crisis engage, through the United Nations - fully and urgently - in a process, including continued weapons inspections, that could and should render the trauma and tragedy of war unnecessary."
After three days of meetings, the Spanish bishops urged the US and its allies to "respect international law and the framework of the United Nations.
"War is never just another way of resolving differences between countries," the bishops said. Use of force was only justifiable "if no other ways exist" to resolve the crisis. "All other means must be exhausted," they said.
The statement is bound to increase pressure on the Prime Minister Mr Jose-Maria Aznar's conservative government, whose backing for US-led military action in Iraq - with or without UN backing - is deeply unpopular among Spain's predominantly Catholic population.
The statements by the churches come ahead of Mr Blair's meeting with Pope John Paul, who opposes a war on Iraq, in the Vatican tomorrow.