With the death of Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the world has lost a tireless advocate for peace, dialogue, and social justice.
Among the many messages he delivered during his papal service, those spoken in Sarajevo on June 6th, 2015, during his historic visit to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), held special significance for the citizens of BiH. On that day, before nearly 70.000 believers at the Kosevo stadium, Pope Francis led Mass and sent a powerful message: “Never again war!”
Pope Francis was the second head of the Roman Catholic Church to ever visit BiH, following John Paul II, who visited the country 18 years earlier, on April 12th, 1997.
“Peace be with you” was the core message with which Pope Francis arrived in BiH, and messages of peace were interwoven throughout the Mass held at the crowded “Asim Ferhatovic – Hase” stadium.
Pope Francis then said that the word “peace” is a powerful prophetic word, and that “peace is God’s gift, God’s plan for humanity, for history, and for all creation.”
“This is a plan that always encounters opposition from man and from evil. So too in our time, the desire for peace and the effort to achieve it clash with the fact that so many armed conflicts are currently being waged in the world. It is a kind of third world war fought ‘in pieces,’ and in the context of global communication, a true war atmosphere is experienced,” Pope Francis told the faithful at the Olympic Stadium Kosevo and added:
“But war means children, women, and the elderly in refugee camps, it means the forced abandonment of homes, it means destroyed houses, streets, and businesses, it means above all so many shattered lives. You know this very well because you have experienced all of this right here. How much suffering, how much destruction, how much pain. Today, brothers and sisters once again from this city rises the cry of God’s people and of all men and women of goodwill: never again war.”
In an address during the meeting with representatives of the Interreligious Council of BiH, Pope Francis referred to Sarajevo as a “city which in the recent past unfortunately became a symbol of war, a European Jerusalem, today with its diversity of peoples, cultures, and faiths can once again become a sign of unity, a place where diversity is not a threat but a richness and an opportunity for mutual growth.”
“In a world still unfortunately torn by conflicts, this country can become a message, to affirm that it is possible to live side by side in diversity, but in shared humanity, building a future in brotherhood and peace,” said Pope Francis during the meeting attended by the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, the Grand Mufti of the Islamic Community in BiH Husein effendi Kavazovic, the Bishop of Zahumlje-Herzegovina and the Littoral Grigorije Duric, and the President of the Jewish Community in BiH Jakob Finci.
Pope Francis ended his one-day visit to BiH with a meeting with young people at the Archdiocesan Center for Youth Pastoral “John Paul II” in Sarajevo, where he said he wants young people not to make enemies of one another but to live together in peace.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, passed away on Monday morning at the age of 88 after suffering from a “long-lasting respiratory crisis similar to asthma,” linked to thrombocytopenia, the Vatican announced.
Photo: Klix.ba
