May 4, 2011

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican's delegate in Tripoli is calling for a halt to NATO air strikes in Libya and for the West to negotiate with Moammar Gadhafi's government, insisting the Libyan leader doesn't oppose dialogue.

Monsignor Giovanni Martinelli, the Holy See's longtime apostolic vicar in Tripoli, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that he has drawn his inspiration from the pope's desire for peace.

Though Pope Benedict XVI has called for dialogue and diplomacy to prevail over warfare in the North African country, Martinelli, an Italian who was born in Libya in 1942, has gone much further by directly and repeatedly criticizing the NATO airstrikes aimed at helping rebels waging an uprising against Gadhafi's 42-year rule.

Martinelli also attended the recent funeral of Gadhafi's son after seeing the body in the morgue.

"I am speaking in the name of my conscience and in the name of my role as pastor and also in the name of the Gospels," Martinelli said.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, praised Martinelli as an authoritative voice on the situation in Libya who is tending as a pastor to his people under difficult circumstances. He said the Holy See in no way distances itself from his remarks.

Martinelli, who was posted in Tripoli just a year after Gadhafi seized power in 1969, said the West has no right to "enter a country and eliminate the leader because he is suspected of crimes."

A NATO air strike over the weekend destroyed most of Gadhafi's family compound, prompting Libyan accusations that the alliance is trying to assassinate Gadhafi. NATO insists it is not trying to kill Gadhafi but is trying to end his ability to harm Libyan civilians.

Libyan officials said Gadhafi was in the bombed building and survived unharmed, while one of his sons and three grandchildren were killed.

Martinelli attended the funeral and earlier was at the morgue with clergymen from other denominations, a scene broadcast on Libyan state TV. The group stood near metal gurneys holding two adult-sized bodies covered with green Libyan flags and two smaller bundles covered by white sheets.

Martinelli was seen blowing a kiss at one point.

"The bombardments were clearly seeking to remove the leader — and I cannot share this position on eliminating the leader," Martinelli told The AP in a telephone interview from Libya. "It is the people that must be able decide whether or not to change him."

He said he interprets Benedict's calls for diplomacy to prevail as a clear indication that the pope opposes the NATO strikes and supports negotiations with Gadhafi — though Benedict has not spoken in such direct terms.

In his Easter Sunday message last month, Pope Benedict said: "In the current conflict in Libya, may diplomacy and dialogue replace arms, and may those who suffer as a result of the conflict be given access to humanitarian aid."

There is some disagreement among Catholics over the issue. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said the military intervention in Libya appears to meet the criteria in Catholic teaching for a "just war."

But Martinelli insisted: "We are strong when we can find dialogue and Gadhafi is not against dialogue."

That position contrasts with that of NATO, which has refused a call by the African Union to negotiate a cease-fire between Gadhafi's regime and the rebels trying to oust him. NATO refuses to cut back its operations to give space to diplomatic initiatives.

Though Martinelli strongly condemned NATO's bombings, he refused to condemn outright Ghadafi's violence. When prodded on Gadhafi's crimes, he would only say: "I criticize all that is bad. I have only said that violence brings violence. So let's try to use dialogue to overcome divisions."

Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the Holy See supports Martinelli.

"He is a person who lives there, who is an authority who knows the situation. We think his humanitarian concerns are perfectly right to be taken into consideration," Lombardi said.

Martinelli was born to Italian parents during the years when Italy ruled Libya. He joined the Franciscans in 1964 and was ordained a priest in Italy in 1967. Pope John Paul II elevated him to bishop's rank in 1985.

Associated Press writers Nicole Winfield in Rome and Karin Laub in Tripoli contributed to this report.