Pope Prays For End To Terror

Pope John Paul II called Sunday for world leaders to resolve conflicts in Iraq, the Middle East and Africa, and used his Easter message to pray that hope will conquer the "inhuman" and growing phenomenon of terrorism.

He also urged that all the children of Abraham — the Biblical patriarch considered the father of Christianity, Islam and Judaism — to "rediscover the brotherhood that they share and that prompts in them designs of cooperation and peace."

"May the culture of life and love render vain the logic of death," he said.

For the second straight year, President Bush was celebrating Easter Sunday at Fort Hood, whose troops have come under deadly attacks in Iraq.

Bush made the 50-mile helicopter flight from his Crawford ranch, arriving as a light rain fell and telling reporters, "Happy Easter." It was the president's first public appearance since he arrived for an Easter break on his ranch on April 5.

At least nine troops from the base were killed in Iraq in the past week. Thirty-one troops from Fort Hood who were wounded in a firefight in Baghdad last week were airlifted back to the central Texas base for medical treatment and family reunions.

Accompanying the president on the half-day trip were his wife, mother-in-law, twin daughters, parents and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Vice President Dick Cheney attended Easter services with his wife, Lynne, at a nondenominational English-speaking Protestant church in Tokyo. The vast majority of Japanese are both Shinto and Buddhist.

Cheney is in Japan pledging U.S. support to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in pressing ahead with plans to double Japan's noncombat forces in Iraq -- despite the furor over the abduction of three citizens, U.S. officials said.

The kidnapping of the Japanese by Iraqi militants cast a pall over Cheney's visit as hundreds of anti-war demonstrators took to the streets to urge their government to withdraw its troops from Iraq.

In southern Iraq, some 1.5 million Shiite pilgrims marked one of their holiest religious days. In the city of Karbala, hundreds of Shiite militiamen - but no police - patrolled the street preparing for a possible U.S. assault against rebellious followers of al-Sadr.

Saturday was al-Arbaeen, the 40th and final day of the mourning period for Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, who was martyred in a 7th century battle. Ceremonies last until Sunday night.

Shiite Muslims flailed themselves with chains and slashed their heads with swords, staining their clothing with blood as they mourned for Hussein, one of their most revered saints.

In Saudi Arabia, where Shiites comprise 10 percent to 15 percent of the population, worshippers observed the mourning more freely than in the past. In the eastern provinces, where Shiites are concentrated, many marched in the streets peacefully on Friday night and Saturday, with police watching but not intervening, witnesses said.

Saudi Shiites also donated blood to Iraqis, some staged a play in a school theater, and others stepped on the American and Israeli flags that bore the word "Terrorists."

Bahrain's Shiites, a slight majority, won the freedom to carry out their religious rituals as part of significant concessions from the nation's Sunni rulers following a wave of unrest in the mid-1990s.

Ambulances were on hand during Saturday's procession in Bahrain's capital Manama, and paramedics treated the wounds of many mourners, some of whom had fainted from blood loss.

Some posters along the march showed Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas who was assassinated by Israel last month.

Many others, including women and children walked over or spat on a U.S. flag sketched on the road outside a congregation hall. The stars of the hand-drawn flag were replaced with Stars of David, the symbol of the Israeli flag. Some also stamped on a sketched Israeli flag, whose Star of David was replaced with a swastika.

Bahrain is one of the more Westernized countries in the Gulf, though anti-American sentiment has been rising.

Many people in the Middle East accuse the United States of failing to curb Israel's actions against the Palestinians while supporting the Jewish state financially and militarily.

In Jerusalem, a few hundred Palestinian Christians and foreign pilgrims attended Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - built over the rocky mount believed to be the place where Jesus was crucified.

Thousands have made the Holy Week trip in years past. But many tourists and pilgrims have been frightened away by more than three years of Palestinian-Israeli violence.

Many Palestinian Christians from the West Bank couldn't reach Jerusalem due to travel restrictions imposed by the Israeli military.

Holy Week coincides with the weeklong Jewish Passover holiday, which ends tomorrow night.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to attend a Passover celebration in the largest West Bank settlement, Maale Adumim, on Monday night in an effort to win support for his plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and four isolated West Bank settlements. He is scheduled to meet with President Bush on Wednesday.

John Paul delivered his message of peace in his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" blessing — Latin for "To the City and the World," — as he celebrated Easter Mass on the flower-decked steps of St. Peter's Basilica before tens of thousands of people.

The 83-year old pontiff delivered his annual holiday greetings in 62 languages.

The celebration is the most joyous holiday in the Christian calendar — the day according to the Bible that Jesus rose from the dead after crucifixion.

This year, Easter falls on the same day in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox calendars — a coincidence John Paul cited in expressing hope that one day the two churches might always celebrate Easter together.

"I pray to the risen Lord that all of us baptized may soon be able to together relive this fundamental feast of our faith each year on the same day," he said.

Speaking strongly and clearly despite having completed a grueling spate of Holy Week ceremonies, John Paul urged the faithful to find the courage to confront the many evils facing the world today.

"In particular, may (humanity) find the strength to face the inhuman and unfortunately growing phenomenon of terrorism, which rejects life and brings anguish and uncertainty to the daily lives of so many hard-working and peaceful people," John Paul said.

He called for governments and international institutions to overcome the troubles afflicting people around the globe and work for a more peaceful world order.

"May world leaders be confirmed and sustained in their efforts to resolve satisfactorily the continuing conflicts that cause bloodshed in certain regions of Africa, Iraq and the Holy Land," he said.

John Paul has frequently used his Easter message to reflect on war, poverty and terrorism — and his remarks this year appeared particularly directed to the fresh violence in Iraq and the ongoing hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians.

Dressed in golden robes and a jeweled miter, the pope was alert and spoke clearly throughout the Mass, despite having struggled through a three-hour Easter Vigil that ended just a few hours earlier.

On Friday John Paul, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, braved the chilly night air to preside over a reenactment of Christ's Passion at Rome's Colosseum.

On Sunday, John Paul celebrated Mass under an overcast sky, surrounded by cardinals in red and an arch of pink tulips and yellow daffodils arranged around the altar on the steps of St. Peter's.

Security was relatively tight around St. Peter's Square on Sunday, with Italian police and Carabinieri officers checking the bags of pilgrims and tourists as they entered the piazza and a ring of police cars at its edge.

The joyous celebrations in Rome contrasted with the muted Easter festivities in Jerusalem, where a few hundred Palestinian Christians and foreign pilgrims attended Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher — built over the skull-shaped rocky mount believed to be the place where Jesus was crucified.

Elsewhere, Orthodox and Protestant Christians also celebrated Easter on Sunday.

In Istanbul, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, said Easter was an occasion for hope despite religious "fanaticism" and the killing of innocent people in conflicts and war.