VATICAN CITY -- As Baghdad and other Iraqi cities fell to U.S.-led forces, the Vatican said the collapse of President Saddam Hussein's regime was an opportunity for the Iraqi people and offered to help in the massive humanitarian task that lies ahead.

At the same time, church officials said the reconstruction of Iraq was a job for the international community, not for a single country. They expressed alarm that the fighting so far had left a power vacuum, which set off widespread looting in major cities.

Pope John Paul II expressed his sadness at the continuing "destruction and death" in Iraq April 9. Later that day, U.S. forces occupied main government buildings in Baghdad, signaling the end of the main battle for the capital and the apparent end of the Iraqi regime.

After a Palm Sunday liturgy April 13, the pope prayed in a special way for the many young people in Iraq who were suffering from the war and the violence.

The Vatican's official reaction to the fall of Baghdad emphasized hopes for the future rather than the devastation of a war the Holy See strongly opposed. It said the departure of Saddam's government marked a "significant opportunity for the population's future."

"Now that Iraq's material, political and social reconstruction is coming into view, the Catholic Church is ready to lend the necessary assistance through its social and charitable institutions," the Vatican said in a statement April 10.

"The dioceses in Iraq are also prepared to offer their own structures to contribute to a fair distribution of humanitarian aid," it said.

A top U.S. official who met April 9 with Vatican officials said the church leaders had made "concrete proposals" on how Catholic groups in Iraq could help distribute much-needed humanitarian aid. The official, John R. Bolton, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, did not detail the proposals but called the meeting "constructive and helpful."

Other Vatican officials welcomed the apparent winding down of the Iraqi conflict, but said the international community needed a stronger voice in postwar developments.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's top doctrinal official, said April 9 that the "result is happier than could have been thought." He said the conflict "could have ended differently," especially considering the possible threat of the use of chemical weapons.

In the post-war period, the cardinal said, "It is important that the reconstruction of Iraq is not carried out by just one power but by all nations: It is a common responsibility of all of us for this tormented country."

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, said that along with reconstruction in Iraq the international community must devote itself to rebuilding the credibility of the United Nations.

"We are a family of nations. We have to cooperate; this is the destiny of peoples," Cardinal Sodano told reporters April 11.

The cardinal said the Vatican, which did everything it could to prevent the U.S.-led war, was now hoping for a successful rebuilding of peace and especially of Muslim-Christian relations.

Archbishop Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said that despite the current crisis facing the United Nations the international body is still essential to world order and must be reformed to strengthen its "authoritativeness."

The archbishop, who served 16 years as the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, said the international community should "adopt realism and good sense -- as well as a certain dose of creative courage -- to reinforce the United Nations and adapt its structure and mentality to the high purpose which underlies it."

In Rome, a top Iraqi church official said he hoped post-war Iraq's new political leaders would be chosen according to their merits and not their closeness to "Anglo-American interests."

Father Philip Najim, the Rome-based representative of the Chaldean-rite Baghdad Patriarchate, also expressed dismay at the failure of coalition forces to stop widespread looting, even in important archeological sites, after the collapse of the regime.

In Baghdad, the Vatican's ambassador said the collapse of the Saddam regime had left a power vacuum and a worrying outbreak of looting and uncertainty over the country's political future.

Speaking April 10 to Fides, the Vatican's missionary news service, Archbishop Fernando Filoni said Iraq's Christians were sharing the same hardships as the majority Muslim population. During the three weeks of coalition bombing in Baghdad, the nuncio said, many poorer Iraqis -- Christian and Muslim -- took refuge in churches and parish buildings.

The Vatican was one of the few states to keep open its embassy in Baghdad during the conflict.

In early April, representatives of the church's global charity confederation, Caritas Internationalis, made a first assessment of the critical humanitarian situation in Umm Qasr, the only city in war-torn Iraq declared safe by coalition forces.

Alistair Dutton, who headed the Caritas Internationalis team, said that the southern port city of 40,000 people still faced security problems and shortages of clean water, despite a new pipeline that delivers 625,000 gallons of water daily.

Later in the week, church aid officials expressed alarm that Iraqi hospitals were being looted of essential equipment and supplies.

On April 11, Caritas Iraq reported that church material in Baghdad had so far not been damaged in the looting, but said many people had sought safety at Caritas centers and parish buildings. It said the humanitarian situation was critical in the capital.

Latin-rite Archbishop Jean Benjamin Sleiman of Baghdad said there was a continual need to purify water in the southern city. Caritas offices in Jordan were sending supplies of chlorine, Fides said.

Meanwhile, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Basra showed journalists what he called "the gift I have received from Bush."

Archbishop Djibrail Kassab put a label -- "April 3, 2:30 a.m." -- on his piece of U.S. shrapnel, which landed at the foot of his bed during a bombing raid on foreign ministry offices about 30 yards away. The archbishop said he was not hurt.

Among religious leaders commenting on developments in Iraq, the Rev. Konrad Raiser, head of the World Council of Churches, said a victory by U.S.-led forces in Iraq would not give moral legitimacy to the war.