Only a few countries in the world can boast that they offered hospitality to two heads of the Catholic Church for as many as three times in 25 years since BiH acquired internationally recognized independence.
It is a great honor, especially if we have in mind that all three visits had primarily peaceful character, with messages of the necessity of reconciliation, coexistence and building a brighter future together in the war-devastated country.
Pope John Paul II visited Sarajevo for the first time in 1997, which gave to believers and other citizens a glimmer of hope that life will finally get better, and the masses accompanied the passage of the Popemobile through the city to the Kosevo stadium, where was held the Eucharist mass. At the same time, the Pope then met with religious leaders of all confessions in BiH, as well as the highest political leaders.
It cannot be forgotten, said the Pope then, that Sarajevo has become a sign of the suffering of the whole of Europe in this century. Sarajevo, he said, was that at the beginning of the 20th century, when the World War I started, and it became that again when the armed conflicts occurred in this region. Europe participated as a witness. But, he said, we have to ask ourselves if it was always a fully responsible witness.
He sent the same messages in 2003 in Banja Luka, where he came to beatify the Catholic laity Ivan Merz, which was a strong message to the Catholic laity and their engagement in the church. Also, he said that Catholics in BiH should not lose the hope under the discouragement, but BiH needs to become a country of reconciliation, encounter, and peace once again.
Ivo Tomasevic estimates that BiH, by the number of papal visits, is certainly privileged. He considers that this is probably contributed by the difficult war and post-war situation, recalling that we should not forget that Pope John Paul II wanted to visit the capital of BiH in 1994 during severe war destruction.
Sarajevo proudly hosted the Holy Father for the third time in 2015. This time it was a Latin American Pope Francis, whose real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who realized the visit to BiH under the motto “Peace be with you”. That was the basic message of the head of the Catholic Church – the necessity of building a lasting peace and the strengthening of trust between the local peoples.
(Source: faktor.ba)
