Grateful for this unique opportunity, I share with pleasure my reflections as we Catholics of Bosnia-Herzegovina and other citizens commemorate the April 1997 visit of Pope John Paul II.
The Pontiff presented himself as a pilgrim of peace and he remains for all of us a strong moral leader who raised his voice supporting this multi-ethnic country and believing that a just peace is reachable and enjoyable to all of us.
We as members of three ethnic communities do differ in looking for concrete structures of our shared homeland, but in commemorating this anniversary we agree that this visit was an encouraging event for all of us.
In preparing my Pastoral letter to Catholics of my archdiocese I read again the Pope’s addresses to all of us at Sarajevo Airport, to three members of our collective Presidency and to us Catholics in Sacred Heat cathedral and Kosevo Stadium.
His message is still of topical interest. In my address at Easter reception, organized together with Orthodox archbishop of Sarajevo Mitropolit Nikolaj, I quoted John Paul’s words to our Presidency:
“Equality of rights must be granted to the ethnic-religious communities. Bosnia-Herzegovina is a mosaic of cultures, religions and ethnic groups which, if recognized and safeguarded, can contribute their respective gifts to the enrichment of the one patrimony of civil society. Building a true and lasting peace is a great task entrusted to everyone. Certainly much depends on those who have public responsibilities. But the future of peace, while largely entrusted to institutional formulations, which have to be drawn up by means of sincere dialogue and in respect for justice, depend no less decisively on a renewed solidarity of minds and hearts”.
Unfortunately this solidarity of minds and hearts did not yet take firm roots. We are all Slavs and therefore grateful to this Slavic Pope for having pointed at human rights and at equality for all of us who share common needs but also cherish our different identities – cultural, religious, ethnic.
We Catholics are grateful to makers of Dayton Peace Accords which produced lasting peace but not democratic civil society. More than half of all our fellow believers who were driven out from their parishes during 1991-1995 war for ethnic territories did not return to their destroyed or abandoned homes.
We remaining Catholics of our four dioceses remember with joy that the Pope encouraged us to continue our religious and social mission staying open for our Muslim, Orthodox, Jewish and other fellow citizens. His visit is an enduring encouragement to steadfast hope and new endeavors.
That is especially true in these days when our democratically elected political representatives sharply disagree in trying to reform our Constitution imposed by signatories of Dayton Accords and by police forces issued from these accords.
Cardinal Vinko Puljic has been archbishop of Sarajevo since 1994. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. He has been an activist for Croatian Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
