March 4, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 30, 1423

VATICAN CITY, March 3: Russia and the Vatican confirmed similarities in their positions on Iraq during a meeting on Monday between Russia’s under-secretary for foreign affairs and his Vatican counterpart, the Vatican said.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Russia’s Alexei Meskov had travelled to the Vatican to inform Vatican under-secretary for relations with states Pietro Parolin of the current international situation concerning Iraq.

“In the course of the meeting, it was possible to confirm convergences with the position of the Holy See,” he said.

Pope John Paul II has emerged as one of the leading voices against a war with Iraq, and on Monday his special envoy Cardinal Pio Laghi was travelling to Washington with a plea for US President George Bush to hold back from a war.

A Vatican diplomatic source also told AFP on Monday that the Pope intends to make a personal address to the UN Security Council if Mr Laghi’s message fails to convince President Bush to find a peaceful solution.

Russia, along with fellow Security Council members Germany and France, has called for the UN inspections in Iraq to continue as a peaceful alternative to US-led military action against Baghdad. —AFP