Foes Reunited at Peace Pope’s Funeral
By Sophie Hardach

Reuters
Thu Apr 7, 2005 3:42 PM BST
 
ROME (Reuters) – The “Great Satan,” part of the “axis of evil” and an
“outpost of tyranny” will gather for the funeral of Pope John Paul, who
toiled for peace but whose mourners find it hard to forgive each other.

At what is expected to be one of the biggest funerals ever, there will
be heads of governments whose hostile exchanges have long dominated
the headlines — the United States and Iran, Israel and Syria,
Zimbabwe and Britain among others.

“The conviction he had about humankind, about life and about peace —
it just shone through,” said former U.S. president George Bush, father
of the current president, aboard Air Force One as it was heading to
Rome on Wednesday.

But the pacifist message often fell on deaf ears.

Tehran and Washington have been enemies since Iran’s Islamic revolution
in 1979, months after John Paul was elected Pope.

Iran’s former leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was the first to
call the United States the “Great Satan,” while President Bush has
said Iran is part of an “axis of evil” and accuses Tehran of secretly
building nuclear arms.

In another long-standing war of words, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice has described Communist Cuba as an “outpost of tyranny.”

Cuba is sending National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who will not attend the funeral, hailed
the Pope as a friend of peace — but his condolences for the late
Pontiff also included a jab at U.S. sanctions on his country.

PIOUS POLITICS

Funeral guest and Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, too, combined
piety with politics, describing his country as “the Vatican’s most
faithful partner.”

The Holy See is Taiwan’s only European ally, while Beijing sees the
island as a renegade province. China cut relations with the Vatican
more than 50 years ago and will send no envoy to the funeral.

Seating arrangements for the funeral have not been made public,
but they will require the Vatican’s finest diplomacy.

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe may recall some of his own
musings on religion when he listens to the funeral prayers for the
late Pontiff.

“We are now being coerced to accept and believe that a new
political-cum-religious doctrine has arisen, namely that ‘There is but
one political god, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair is his prophet’,”
Mugabe told the U.N. general assembly last September.

Blair has criticized Mugabe’s treatment of political opponents and
policy of seizing white-owned farms for allocation to blacks in the
former British colony. Mugabe sees Blair, who will also be at the
funeral, as a chief enemy, saying he cajoled the European Union into
imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.

The burial will also draw visitors whose animosity has been less
vocal but equally embittered.

Turkey and Armenia, which have no diplomatic relations, will both send
their heads of government. Turkey is trying to counter long-standing
accusations that it slaughtered 1.5 million Armenians during and
after World War One, which it denies.

The issue has come under fresh scrutiny as Turkey strives to enter
the EU.

The only traditional foes to bring a gift of peace for the late
Pontiff may be nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

On Thursday, a day before the Pope’s burial, the passengers on
the first bus service in more than 50 years from Pakistani Kashmir
to Indian Kashmir walked across a “peace bridge” between the two
territories to resume their journey on the other side.

The region has been divided since a 1947-48 war, and the brief walk
across the bridge was hailed as a possible beginning of a much longer
process — forgiveness.

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