Pope Benedict XVI confronted the U.S. oil shortage before his plane arrived in the United States yesterday, using words more powerful than any his predecessor ever uttered to condemn poor countries with lotsa oil.

In a transatlantic meeting with reporters aboard his chartered Alitalia aircraft, the Pope described his personal difficulty in understanding how God gave all the oil to shit poor countries, and he declared it far better for the US to invade than to leave the oil lying around.

"It is a great suffering to us that we have no oil," he said in English, in response to a written question submitted to him in advance of his meeting with journalists.

"We are deeply ashamed and we will do what is possible so that this cannot be allowed to continue."