"Violence and weapons can never resolve the problems of men," the 82-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church told a Vatican audience comprising journalists from an Italian Catholic television channel and their families, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"When war, as at this time in Iraq, threatens the destiny of humanity, it is even more urgent to proclaim, with a strong and decisive voice, that peace alone is the way to construct a united and just society," John Paul II said.

The pope had maintained a public silence since his clear moral voice against the war was drowned out in the maelstrom of terrifying firepower unleashed by U.S. President George W. Bush's forces on Baghdad early Thursday.

Though stricken with Parkinson's disease which has left him almost immobile, the pope had for weeks waged a very personal campaign to mediate a peaceful resolution to the crisis, even as the clock ticked steadily down to Thursday's bombardment.

The Vatican, in an official reaction to the outbreak of a conflict it has sought for months to avoid, blamed both sides for the war in a statement released Thursday, expressing its "deep sorrow".

However, John Paul II made no personal comment. According to aides, he devoted his daily morning mass to peace and to the people of Iraq. He was "very disappointed and very sad", they added.

A senior Vatican cardinal denied in a newspaper interview Saturday that the pope had lost his personal battle for peace.

"No. He didn't stop the war, but he touched the heart of the world," said Cardinal Paul Poupard.

"On the eve of the first Gulf War in 1991, he made the same appeal against war but he was desperately alone. Now, he has interpreted the anguish of humanity, which has touched even non-believers," said Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

The pope had met a range of world leaders in his efforts to prevent a war, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz.

He dispatched special envoys to Washington in a bid to soften the White House's hawkish stance against Iraq, and to Baghdad to plead with Iraqi President Saddam Hussien to comply with U.N. resolutions.

An anti-war protester wears a mask during a demonstration in central London

Through it all, the pope made no secret of his personal feelings, reportedly losing his temper with Blair in a February 22 audience and using language and tones unsuited to diplomacy, an Italian newspaper quoted aides as saying.

He even banged his fist on the table during a lunch with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, signaling his disgust at Italy's support for U.S. policy on Iraq, the newspaper said.

"I lived through World War I and I survived the Second World War. For this reason I have the duty to say 'never again war'," John Paul II said last week in a rare departure from a prepared script.

Vatican diplomacy and the pope's best efforts will now go to bringing the war to an early end, to lessen the humanitarian fallout.

It will refuse a U.S. request to cut its diplomatic ties with Iraq, Poupard said Saturday, having decided to keep its miniatures in Baghdad open last week as other embassies were shutting down.

"(The Vatican) will always take the opportunity to maintain every possible channel of communication, above all at times of conflict," said Poupard.

On Thursday, the Vatican condemned the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq as a "defeat for reason" hours after the first missiles fell on Baghdad Thursday, as Pope John Paul II devoted his daily mass to peace and the people of Iraq.

"The Holy See has learned with deep sorrow of the latest events in Iraq," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.