Bosnia: For the second time in two weeks, Pope John Paul appealed yesterday for a spirit of reconciliation to ease bitter war memories in the former Yugoslavia. Paddy Agnew, in Rome, reports
Speaking in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka in the Republika Srpska, scene of ethnic strife both during the second World War and the 1992-95 conflict, the Pope said: "From this city, marked in the course of history by so much suffering and bloodshed, I ask Almighty God to have mercy on the sins committed against humanity, human dignity and freedom, also by children of the Catholic Church, and to foster in all the desire for mutual forgiveness.
"Only in a climate of true reconciliation will the memory of so many innocent victims and their sacrifice not be in vain, but encourage everyone to build up new relationships of fraternity and dignity."
The 83-year-old Pope was making his second trip to Bosnia, having visited the capital Sarajevo in 1997.
Yesterday's one-day visit, his 101st overseas mission, came two weeks after a five-day pastoral visit to neighbouring Croatia. The Pope's call for forgiveness for Catholics was a thinly-veiled reference to events at the Franciscan monastery of Petricevac, the controversial site for yesterday's ceremony marking the beatification of Ivan Merz.
The monastery was destroyed by Serb forces during the Bosnian war, allegedly in retaliation for its role in a February 1942 massacre when 2,730 Serbs, including 500 children, were killed by the pro-Nazi, Ustascia forces of Croatian leader Ante Pavelic. Patriarch Pavle of the Serbian Orthodox Church declined to attend yesterday's ceremony, whilst Serb newspaper Glas Javnosti described the choice of Petricevac monastery as "a provocation".
In the build-up to yesterday's visit, posters of the Pope were daubed with the "Four S" sign (Samo Sloga Srbina Spasava, or Only Unity Can Save Serbs) used by Serbian nationalists, prompting more than 2,000 police and troops of the NATO-led SFOR peacekeeping mission to maintain a tight security presence throughout the visit.
Welcoming the Pope, Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka pointed out that, following the ethnic cleansing instigated by Serb forces in and around Banja Luka 10 years ago, only 10,000 of the 220,000 Catholics forced to leave have since returned to their native city.
"Hear this cry from the desert. Help us to stand on our feet as a society and a state," said Bishop Komarica.
The Pope returned to Rome yesterday evening.