(Vatican Radio) The expected arrival of Pope Francis in Bosnia-Herzegovina is expected to be welcomed by the country’s heavily Catholic Croat community at a time when the nation is preparing for a sad anniversary.
Listen to the report by regional correspondent Stefan Bos :
Pope Francis will visit Sarajevo while Bosnia-Herzegovina seeks unity to heal the wounds of the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, which claimed over 100,000 lives.
Some two decades after the U.S. sponsored Dayton peace accords ended that conflict, the country is still deeply divided, complicating attempts to solve corruption, high unemployment and political
polarization.
Tensions remain especially between mainly Orthodox Serbs with their Serb Republic – or Republika Srpska – and the Federation, the other autonomous region dominated by Bosnian Muslims and Catholic Croats.
Many still mourn over the thousands of people who were killed or taken to concentration camps during Serb efforts in the 1990s to drive out non-Serbs.
MASSACRE REMEMBERED
The pontiff is in Bosnia-Herzegovina at a time when the Balkan country prepares for the 20th anniversary of an atrocity on a scale not seen in Europe since the Holocaust.
On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces entered the town of Srebrenica, killing about 8,000 Muslim men and boys.
Last Friday, the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague upheld sentences of five men convicted over the Srebrenica massacre. Vujadin Popović and Ljubiša Beara were sentenced to life prisonment, while Drago Nikolić must serve 35 years’, Radivoje Miletić 18 years’ and Vinko Pandurević 13 years’ behind bars.
But for survivors the pain remains. “I was very much hurt by the fact that the word “genocide” was not mentioned at all in the reading of the convictions,” said Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica group.
“The sentence of Miletic was even lowered, while he is responsible for killing children, killing and raping women and killing old people,” she added.
BROTHERHOOD, PEACE
Yet amid the suffering, Pope Francis has called for prayers. He wants this first papal trip to Sarajevo in 18 years to contribute to brotherhood and peace.
Bosnia’s small Catholic population is expected to answer his call to pray for the visit.
Despite difficulties, Croat Catholics often gather including in Medjugorje, a famous pilgrimage site at an altitude of 200 meters above sea level.
Catholic aid workers have said there are some 440,000 Catholics in the Balkan nation, half the prewar figure.
That’s why prayers will reverberate throughout the mountains ahead of Pope Francis intention to personally encourage the country’s Catholics not to give up hope.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The expected arrival of Pope Francis in Bosnia-Herzegovina is expected to be welcomed by the country’s heavily Catholic Croat community at a time when the nation is preparing for a sad anniversary. Listen to the report by regional correspondent Stefan Bos: Pope Francis will visit Sarajevo while Bosnia-Herzegovina seeks unity to heal…
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(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Luigi Pezzuto, Apostolic Nuncio to Bosnia-Herzegovina, has welcomed the news of Pope Francis’s upcoming visit to Sarajevo.
Speaking to Vatican Radio immediately after the Pope’s announcement to visit the nation on June 6, he describes the Papal visit as not only useful, but necessary.
Listen :
“We are very happy about this news of the Papal visit to Sarajevo and everyone is awaiting” he says.
Archbishop Pezzuto explains that the nation, and the city of Sarajevo, “the Jerusalem of Europe, is a place where a lot of cultures, religions and also Christian confessions gather together”.
And he points out that especially considering the fact of the recent war from which the country is still emerging “the message of the Pope in view of peace and re-building a society” is fundamental.
“In this context – he says – I am sure that the visit of the Pope, of Pope Francis, will be not only be useful, but necessary for the local Catholic Church and for all the religions that are here”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Pope Francis announced on Sunday that he intends to visit Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, on June 6.
The surprise announcement came as he addressed the crowds in St. Peter’s Square after the recitation of the Angelus prayer.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
“God willing” – the Pope said –“On Saturday 6 June I will travel to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina.” And he asked for prayers so his one-day visit would encourage Bosnia’s Catholic population as well as `’give rise to the development of good and contribute to the consolidation of brotherhood and peace, inter-religious dialogue and friendship.”
The nation, that was part of the former Yugoslavia, was ravaged by the 1992-95 war which took over 100,000 lives. Thousands of people, including Muslim Bosnians and Catholic Croats, were killed or taken to concentration camps during Serb efforts in 1992 to drive out non-Serbs. The prosecution of war crimes suspects is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, during his Sunday catechesis Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel of Mark according to whom ‘when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority’.
And the Pope invited the faithful to listen to the Word of God, to receive its teaching and to announce it to others.
He explained that in the words of a ‘human’ Jesus there was all the authority of God and every word that he utters corresponds to truth.
The Gospel, Francis continued, “does not oppress people; to the contrary: it frees those who are enslaved by the evil spirits of this world: the spirit of vanity, of attachment to money, of pride, of sensuality… the Gospel changes our hearts, it transforms evil inclinations into good proposals”.
“The Gospel is capable of changing people!” he said.
Pope Francis concluded his catechesis inviting all to have daily contact with the Gospel, to read a passage every day, to meditate upon its teachings. And he invited the faithful to carry a copy of the Gospel “in your pocket, in your bag”, allowing oneself “to be nurtured every day by this infinite source of salvation”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Pope Francis announced on Sunday that he intends to visit Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, on June 6. The surprise announcement came as he addressed the crowds in St. Peter’s Square after the recitation of the Angelus prayer. “God willing” – the Pope said –“On Saturday 6 June I will travel to Sarajevo, the capital…
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