The Catholic Church in Bosnia-Herzegovina is counting on Pope Francis’ visit this weekend to help reunite the country and draw international attention to "injustices and crimes" which remain unresolved two decades after a bloody war.
Mgr Ivo Tomasevic, secretary-general of the Sarajevo-based bishops’ conference, told The Tablet: "We hope larger countries such as the United States, Germany and Britain will also take note of what [Francis] says and ensure this finally becomes a country where all citizens and ethnic groups enjoy equal rights and opportunities.”
The priest was speaking amid last-minute preparations for the one-day Sarajevo pilgrimage by Pope Francis, who will meet local Christian and Muslim politicians and celebrate Mass for 65,000 in the capital's Kosevo stadium. He told The Tablet that the 1992-95 war had deprived Bosnia-Herzegovina of a third of its mostly Croatian Catholics, who made up the smallest of its three principal ethnic groups. He added that the bishops’ conference had repeatedly drawn attention to injustices in the country, which still had no constitution and was effectively governed by the 1995 Dayton Peace Accord.
"The peace deal legalised war crimes and ethnic cleansing – and those who've benefited and taken more than they need aren't going to agree to changes by themselves," he continued.
The Pope's visit will also include talks with Bosnia-Herzegovina's three-member rotating presidency and government officials, as well as meetings with Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim representatives and youth groups from Srebrenica and other towns in Sarajevo's John Paul II Youth Centre. In a message released on Monday Pope Francis said he planned to "express support for ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue" and encourage Catholics to contribute to "harmony and mutual co-operation" during his visit, which will have as its motto Christ's words, "Peace be with you".
Meanwhile, Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo said he also believed his country had failed to provide equal rights for various national groups since 1995, and counted on the Pope's presence to "extract Bosnia-Herzegovina from the forgetfulness of the international community". He told Austria's Catholic Kathpress newsagency Catholics still awaited the return of properties seized when the country formed part of communist-ruled Yugoslavia. A Bosnian government official, Irfan Nefic, told a press conference on Monday there were no particular safety concerns over the visit, which follows separate pilgrimages by Pope John Paul II to Sarajevo and Banja Luka in 1997 and 2003 respectively.
The Vatican's spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, said Francis would not refer to Marian apparitions at the Herzegovina shrine of Medjugorje, which are still under investigation by a church commission. Before the war, Bosnia-Herzegovina's 4.3 million-strong population consisted of 18 per cent Catholics, 44 per cent Muslims and 35 per cent Serbian Orthodox. The number of people killed in the war is estimated at 100,000. In 2012, the bishops’ conference president, Franjo Komarica, accused politicians of a "well worked-out strategy" to drive Catholics from the country with effective connivance by the international community. Mgr Tomasevic also told The Tablet that Francis could expect particular sympathy from Muslims. He added: "We are part of Europe and close to Rome, and we should all be setting an example for society here by building peace with justice at all levels".
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