Pope John Paul II urged Iraq to "faithfully respect" UN resolutions in talks with Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz here Friday, during which the diplomat pledged his country's cooperation with UN weapons inspectors.

Saddam Hussein's roving ambassador had a 30-minute audience with the pontiff, followed by a slightly longer meeting with the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and its foreign minister, Monsignor Jean-Louis Tauran.

A short Vatican statement said in somewhat admonishing tones that "the Holy See insisted on the necessity on Iraq to faithfully respect, and give concrete commitments to resolutions of the UN Security Council, which is the guarantor of international law."
It added that Aziz had wanted to give his assurances about "the wish of the Iraqi government to cooperate with the international community, notably on disarmament."
"The Vatican reaffirmed that the Catholic Church will continue its actions for peace and coexistence between peoples, so that in all circumstances peaceful solutions can be found."
The meetings provided for a "broad exchange of views on the well-known dangers of military intervention in Iraq which would worsen the suffering of the population already tested by long years of embargoes."
Aziz's meeting with the pope, his fourth visit to the Vatican, came as chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix prepares to deliver a crucial assessment of Baghdad's cooperation to the UN Security Council later Friday.

John Paul II has been one of the most vocal opponents of a war on Iraq, and besides meeting Aziz, has sent his trusted envoy Cardinal Roger Etchegaray to Baghdad to meet Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi diplomat was expected to have talks later Friday with Italy's Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, before holding a news conference in the evening to give his response to Blix's assessment - Sapa-AFP.