Pope Benedict XVI today appeared to strike out at the US over the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In a speech to the UN in New York he warned that countries which acted unilaterally threatened to worsen the world’s problems.

He went to make a vigorous plea for collective action to confront international issues.

While Pope Benedict did not mention any country by name, his comments appeared be a thinly-veiled shot at the US and other coalition partners including Britain over Iraq.

Addressing the packed assembly in English and French he said that intervention must be made on the basis of the equality and common origin of all human beings, rather than on pragmatic concerns.

Intervening according to "the principles undergirding the international order" would prevent countries from being seen as an “unjustified coercion or a limitation of sovereignty," he said.

Pope Benedict, only the third pontiff to address the organisation, added that the global community must be “capable of responding to the demands of the human family through binding international rules”.

The Pope said that the UN’ work was vital but added: “Multilateral consensus continues to be in crisis because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a small number.”

Several UN members have complained about the concentration of power in the hands of the five permanent members of the Security Council - the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain - but efforts to reform it have so far failed.

In an apparent reference to the conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur he also reminded member states of their duty to protect their populations from “grave and sustained violations” of human rights, cautioning that if they were unable or unwilling to do so, the international community had to intervene.

Speaking after meeting privately with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, he said: “If states are unable to guarantee such protection, the international community must intervene with the juridical means provided in the United Nations Charter and in other international instruments."

The pope's US visit has seen him extolled as an frank but eloquent speaker who has not shied away from addressing painful issues, such as sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the Catholic clergy.

Yesterday, he met with victims of abusive priests as part of a bid to heal scars from the scandal, which has tainted the reputation of the Catholic Church.

Later today, the German-born Pope was due to visit a New York synagogue just ahead of the beginning of Passover.