Francis wants ‘culture of encounter, not of war’

Pope Francis used his visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, last Saturday to urge  ethnic and faith groups to advance “from a culture of conflict and war to a culture of encounter”, writes Jonathan Luxmoore.

The Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim populations of Bosnia are still living in the shadow of the 1992-5 Bosnian war. Some 100,000 people died in the war, an estimated 65 per cent of those Bosnian Muslims, 25 per cent mainly Orthodox Serbs, and 8 per cent mainly Catholic Croats.

“In this land, peace and harmony among Croats, Serbs and Bosnians, as well as the cordial and fraternal relations among Muslims, Hebrews and Christians, take on an importance that goes beyond its boundaries,” Francis said. The Pope was addressing members of the country’s collective presidency shortly after arriving in Sarajevo. He said the war-damaged city represented “a crossroads of cultures, nations and religions”, which had now “advanced from a culture of conflict and war to a culture of encounter”, but still required the building and restoring of bridges, and “efficient, sure and fraternal” forms of communication.

Francis argued that “these initiatives offer a witness to the  world that such co-operation among varying ethnic groups and religions in view of the common good is possible; that a plurality of cultures and traditions can coexist; that  the deepest wounds can be healed by purifying memories and  anchoring hopes in the future”.

He also paid tribute to progress achieved since a 1997 Sarajevo visit by St John Paul II.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina is indeed an integral part of Europe, the successes and tragic experiences of the former are integrated fully into the latter’s history of successes and tragedies,” the Pope said. Preaching later at a Mass in Sarajevo’s Kosevo stadium, attended by 65,000 people, the Pope said current armed conflicts amounted to “a kind of third world war being fought piecemeal”. He added that certain people sought “to incite and foment this atmosphere deliberately” by promoting “conflict between different cultures and societies” and speculating on wars “for the purpose of selling arms”.