Bush encounters antiwar voices

ROME - President Bush got a sharp dose of Europe's opposition to his Iraq policy Friday, quietly in the halls of the Vatican from Pope John Paul II and loudly in the streets of Rome from thousands of demonstrators.

The ailing pontiff complained about recent "deplorable events," an apparent reference to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops. In the absence of a commitment to shared human values, "neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome," he said, struggling to speak.

However, the pope welcomed the recent establishment of an interim government and called for a speedy transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis.

Not far from the Vatican walls, thousands of protesters took to the streets to demonstrate through central Rome, many with signs demanding Italy withdraw its troops from Iraq. But the feared vandalism did not immediately materialize. Instead, the crowds, made up mostly of young people, remained generally nonviolent.

By evening Friday, local authorities had reported only small scuffles, no arrests and no injuries. Italian authorities late Friday estimated the number of protesters at 6,000 to 7,000. Organizers of the protests put the figure at many times that amount.

Bush had dinner with a top ally on Iraq, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Today, the president heads to Paris to meet with one of his sharpest war critics, French President Jacques Chirac.

Bush is on a three-day trip to Italy and France to help commemorate the June 1944 liberation of Rome and the allied D-day invasion of Normandy. He was also using the trip - and an international economic summit next week in Sea Island, Ga. - to try to build more support among leading nations for a new U.N. resolution to deal with postoccupation Iraq.

Seated next to the pope, Bush promised his nation would work for "human liberty and human dignity," without making any reference to Iraq. He presented the pontiff with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian award, calling him "a devoted servant of God."

Bush sat impassively as the 84-year-old pope, seated in front of a microphone, read his statement in English in a voice that was audible, but not easily understood. His hands trembled from Parkinson's disease.

"Mr. President, your visit to Rome takes place at a moment of great concern for the continuing situation of grave unrest in the Middle East, both in Iraq and in the Holy Land," the pope said.

"In the past few weeks, other deplorable events have come to light which have troubled the civic and religious conscience of all."

The remarks appeared directed at abuses of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, but the pope did not elaborate.

Neither would papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, although he did not dispute characterizations that the comments referred primarily to Abu Ghraib.

Bush also received warm personal words from the pope, who hailed his "commitment to the promotion of moral values in American society, particularly with regard to respect for life and the family," and noted his work to ease suffering in Africa.

- Information from the Associated Press, Washington Post and New York Times was used in this report.

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