Pastoral Letters, Statements and Appeals of the Catholic Bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1990-1997. Edited by Msgr. Dr. Mato Zovkic, assisted by Andrew Michaels III. Translated by Dr. Ante Cuvalo, assisted by Theresa Zdunic-Conway, Ivana Cuvalo, John Prcela and Dusko Condic. Sarajevo: Biskupska konferencija Bosne i Hercegovine, 1998. (186 pages)
This is a compilation of Pastoral Letters and Statements made by the Catholic Bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1990 and 1997. These Messages were addressed to both the Catholic faithful of our Dioceses and to the larger world audience from the eve of first democratic elections in 1990 to the visit of Pope John Paul II to Sarajevo in April 1997. These Letters echo the turbulent events which occurred before and during the war in Bosnia between 1991 and 1995 which followed the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. We felt
that a summary of these significant events would be useful to the reader unfamiliar with the history of our region.
For thirteen centuries the Catholic Church has lived and flourished in the hearts of our Croatian ethnic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through these many centuries, empires, kingdoms, democracies and socialist systems of government rose and fell. This region witnessed first hand the painful and future consequences of the Christian church’s division of the east from the west. This is a country where neighbors of the Muslim and Orthodox traditions lived side by side with Catholic neighbors and fellow citizens. Our region is the cross-roads of cultures, beliefs, ancient pathways and philosophies. Following the independence and international recognition of Slovenia and Croatia in January 1992, the democratically elected Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina organized a referendum on March 1, 1992 which gave citizens a choice between a continued life within a truncated Yugoslavia or within a fully independent country. The choice was for independence. Soon the sovereignty of our country was acknowledged by the United Nations and other international institutions. In the previous October, armed forces of Bosnian-Serbs, assisted by the professional army of Yugoslavia had destroyed several Croatian localities in eastern Herzegovina and in one month after the March 1992 referendum they started the war for their ethnic territories in this country. In the time from October 1991 to November 1995 one half of the Catholic population, about 400,000 faithful were evicted from their homes and parishes and forced to flee to the safety of other lands. Hundreds of churches and other ecclesiastical buildings were damaged or destroyed and lie in rubble awaiting the return of parishioners. In the Banja Luka Diocese, for example, only one quarter of the original 120,000 parishioners remain. This is “ethnic cleansing”, this is the tragedy.
The war ended in November 1995 by the Dayton Accords. By that time Serbian forces had occupied 72 percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina while the Accords granted this ethnic community political control of 49 percent of our country’s territory despite the fact that it comprised only 31 percent of the total population according to the census of April 1991. Bosnia was divided into two entities, the Federation of Bosniaks and Croats at one side and on the other, the Serbian Republic. While the Dayton Accords have split the country into two entities the ecclesiastical administration remains a united whole as it was established in 1881, after 400 years of Turkish rule in Bosnia. The Archdiocese of Sarajevo stretches within the territory of the Federation and of the Serbian Republic, the Mostar-Duvno Diocese is primarily in the territory controlled by ethnic Croats within the Federation, the Trebinje-Mrkan Diocese is under the control of the Serbian Republic, Banja Luka Diocese in its largest part is in the Serbian Republic with a small territory of the Livno Deanery in the Federation. In spite of these divisions of control in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the three ethnic communities and two political entities, the Church in this territory remains as one unified structure giving the clearest example of the advantages of a unified homeland. This unity was strengthened when in December 1995, the Holy See established an independent Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We Catholics traveled not alone on this painful period of our history, for our Shepherd in Rome walked with us. He knew our pains and heard our hearts crying for help. He supported us constantly with his prayers, his encouragement and finally with his presence. He reminded all of us “to forgive and ask forgiveness”, the true act of charity.
Bosnia is a proof case for a multi-ethnic, pluralistic and tolerant Europe. If we fail, Europe fails. Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot rebuild on its own. But Bosnia and Herzegovina can fail on its own. After two years of more a cease fire than a real peace, we begin to see healing, rebuilding and a limited return of exiles and refugees. We call upon all people of good will to become involved in our work of love, in our mission of service and in our country’s destiny. You can make a difference, you do make a difference.
As Europeans, we are tied together by culture, commerce and history. And so, we look first to Europe for help. As members of the human family we also call upon the friends of Bosnia in the United States and Canada to contribute towards re-making this country profoundly multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi- religious. May God, “whose power now at work in us do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine,” (Eph 3:20), grant us all His Peace and Blessing.
Sarajevo, March 1, 1998
Cardinal Vinko Puljic, Archbishop of Sarajevo and President of the Bishops Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina