Set ethical limits to wars on terrorism, Pope says

VATICAN CITY, Dec 12 (Reuters) Pope Benedict today said states had to set ethical limits to what can be done to protect their people from terrorism and that some countries have flouted international humanitarian law in recent wars.

The Pope made his comments in an annual message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Peace, celebrated on January 1.

In the message, which is traditionally sent to governments and international organisations, he also repeated his often stated belief that war in God's name is never justified.

In the 14-page document, the Pope also decried other threats to peace, such as hunger, poverty, environmental harm and regimes he said were persecuting Christians or imposing a single religion on their people.

''...the new shape of conflicts, especially since the terrorist threat unleashed completely new forms of violence, demands that the international community reaffirm international humanitarian law, and apply it to all present-day situations of armed conflict, including those not currently provided for by international law,'' he wrote.

He called for a review of what states could ethically do to protect their citizens while still trying to respect international humanitarian law, ''which has not been consistently implemented in certain recent situations of war''.

International human rights groups have criticised the US government over its treatment of terror suspects at a base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the practice of ''rendition'', or flying terrorist suspects to third countries for interrogation.

''...the scourge of terrorism demands a profound reflection on the ethical limits restricting the use of modern methods of guaranteeing internal security,'' he wrote.

MORAL DILEMMA The Pope, in the second peace message of his pontificate, appeared to acknowledge that fighting terrorism posed a difficult moral dilemma for governments.

''Increasingly, wars are not declared, especially when they are initiated by terrorist groups determined to attain their ends by any means available,'' he wrote.

''In the face of the disturbing events of recent years, states cannot fail to recognise the need to establish clearer rules to counter effectively the dramatic decline that we are witnessing,'' he said.

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department who presented the message to the media, said fighting terrorism and respecting human rights had to go hand in hand.

''In discussing how mankind can defend itself from attacks from terrorists ... the Holy See believes that human rights must be respected, it does not favour torture, absolutely. The international community must find ways to face this problem,'' he told Reuters in an interview.

In the message, the Pope specifically mentioned the conflict in southern Lebanon, where he said ''the duty to protect and help innocent victims and to avoid involving the civilian population was largely ignored''.

The Pope did not name either Israel or Hizbollah guerrillas.

Benedict said the desire by some states to acquire nuclear weapons had thrown humanity back to the ''profound anxieties of the Cold War period''.

In a section on religious freedom, the Pope decried ''regimes that impose a single religion on everyone''. This was an apparent reference to Saudi Arabia, where non-Muslims are not allowed to practice their faith in public.

REUTERS SHB BD1921