City of Sarajevo Will Erect Statue of Mother Theresa

The city of Sarajevo is expected to erect a statue of the Blessed Mother Theresa by October, which will be located in front of the Church of St. Joseph on Marin Dvor. The initiative for approval for the location of the monument, which will be identical to the one in Pristina, was sent to the City Council of Sarajevo by the Ambassador of Albania to B&H Flamur Gashi, together with the President of the Croatian Cultural Society (HKD) Napredak Professor Dr. Franjo Topić, announced Anadolu Agency (AA).

The support to the initiatve was given by the Archbishopric of Vrhbosna, including from Cardinal Vinko Puljić, the Archbishop of Vrhbosna.

The Albanian Ambassador told Anadolu Agency that the statue of Blessed Mother Theresa will be around two meters high, and will be a personal present to Sarajevo and citizens of B&H.

”Every person wants to leave something behind when not in their homeland. At the end of May, my four year mandate will end, and I would like to have something of my own in B&H. A statue of Mother Theresa is something big for me, B&H, and for all people of good will, for millions of those who adore the work of Mother Theresa. The statue in Sarajevo will be the best message for the whole region. She was born as an Albanian, she was a part of all of us, doing good for the entire world”, said Ambassador Gashi.

Mother Theresa has a special significance for the Albanian Ambassador. He told AA that in his hometown of Pec, in Kosovo, he worked as President of the Humanitarian Society ”Mother Theresa”. His deputies, who were involved in the work of this humanitarian society, were catholic priest don. Lorenc Nuici – Sopi and imam Ajni Ramadani.

”The meetings were carried out in the church and in the mosque and that is a clear indication that we worked in the spirit of coexistence and tolerance. I had the honor to personally meet Mother Theresa in 1993 in Albania on occasion of her visit with the then Pope John Paul II. All that she did left a special impression on me and therefore this is my obligation. The statue in Sarajevo, as a place of multiethnicity and multiculturalism, is ideal for this”, said Ambassador Gashi.

The statue of Mother Theresa in Sarajevo would be the 12th one built in honor of this missionary and humanitarian. Similar statues were built in New York, Detroit, Tirana, Pristina, Skopje, Tuzi (Montenegro).

(Source: radiosarajevo.ba)