Pope John Paul is to send a senior cardinal to Washington on a personal peace mission to try to avert a war in Iraq.
Cardinal Pio Laghi, formerly the Vatican's ambassador to the United States, will leave in the next few days, and will deliver a letter from the Pope to US President George W. Bush.
Last month the 82-year-old Pontiff sent a special envoy to Baghdad to try to persuade Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.