VATICAN Jan 11, 2009 – Cardinal Pio Laghi, a longtime Vatican diplomat who went to Washington to try to dissuade U.S. President George W. Bush from launching the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has died. He was 86.
Laghi died Saturday evening at a Rome hospital where he had been treated for some time, Vatican Radio said.
Pope John Paul II tapped Laghi, a former envoy to Washington, in 2003 to meet with President George W. Bush on the eve of the war. Laghi was trying to prevent what he said was a morally and legally unjustified invasion.
Laghi, who had been friendly with the Bush family, delivered a letter from John Paul and pressed Bush on whether he was doing everything to avert war.
"You might start and you don't know how to end it," Laghi said at the time.
The Italian-born Laghi had a long career in the Vatican diplomatic corps, serving first in Nicaragua in 1952. He was dispatched to India, Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, Cyprus, Greece and Argentina before being named envoy to Washington in 1980.
At the time, there were no formal diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See; Laghi oversaw the establishment of ties in 1984 and remained as the Vatican's permanent diplomatic representative there until he was recalled to Rome.
President Bush and his wife sent condolences to Pope Benedict XVI and all Catholics.
"Cardinal Laghi was a friend who, in his more than 60 years of service to the Catholic Church, worked tirelessly for peace and justice in our world. As the Papal Nuncio to the United States during the final years of the Cold War, and in his many other assignments, Cardinal Laghi always strove to unite people of all religions and promote reconciliation, religious freedom, and tolerance," Bush said in a statement.
Laghi was named a cardinal in 1991.
John Paul dispatched Laghi to Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2001 with a personal message calling for a cease-fire and resumption of peace talks.
Up to a few weeks before his death, Laghi continued to keep on top of current events. At a December panel in which he participated via video conference, he praised the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president.
"I think you can consider what happened on Nov. 4 as a liberation from that horrendous original sin which for so many years stained the image and nature of the United States: and that is slavery," Vatican Radio quoted him as saying.
The pope is expected to participate in a funeral service for Laghi on Tuesday in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican Radio said.
The Italian president, Georgio Napolitano, sent his condolences to the Vatican, "paying homage to (Laghi's) passion for great international issues."
Laghi died Saturday evening at a Rome hospital where he had been treated for some time, Vatican Radio said.Pope John Paul II tapped Laghi, a former envoy to Washington, in 2003 to meet with President George W. Bush on the eve of the war. Laghi was trying to prevent what he said was a morally and legally unjustified invasion.
Laghi, who had been friendly with the Bush family, delivered a letter from John Paul and pressed Bush on whether he was doing everything to avert war.
"You might start and you don't know how to end it," Laghi said at the time.
The Italian-born Laghi had a long career in the Vatican diplomatic corps, serving first in Nicaragua in 1952. He was dispatched to India, Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, Cyprus, Greece and Argentina before being named envoy to Washington in 1980.
At the time, there were no formal diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See; Laghi oversaw the establishment of ties in 1984 and remained as the Vatican's permanent diplomatic representative there until he was recalled to Rome.
President Bush and his wife sent condolences to Pope Benedict XVI and all Catholics.
"Cardinal Laghi was a friend who, in his more than 60 years of service to the Catholic Church, worked tirelessly for peace and justice in our world. As the Papal Nuncio to the United States during the final years of the Cold War, and in his many other assignments, Cardinal Laghi always strove to unite people of all religions and promote reconciliation, religious freedom, and tolerance," Bush said in a statement.
Laghi was named a cardinal in 1991.
John Paul dispatched Laghi to Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2001 with a personal message calling for a cease-fire and resumption of peace talks.
Up to a few weeks before his death, Laghi continued to keep on top of current events. At a December panel in which he participated via video conference, he praised the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president.
"I think you can consider what happened on Nov. 4 as a liberation from that horrendous original sin which for so many years stained the image and nature of the United States: and that is slavery," Vatican Radio quoted him as saying.
The pope is expected to participate in a funeral service for Laghi on Tuesday in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican Radio said.
The Italian president, Georgio Napolitano, sent his condolences to the Vatican, "paying homage to (Laghi's) passion for great international issues."