RELIGION-BOSNIA: Pope’s Apology Brings New Hope

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia, Jun 23 2003 (IPS) - The first visit of Pope John Paul II to a predominantly Serb Orthodox part of Bosnia Herzegovina brings hope of reconciliation after he apologised for the crimes of Catholic Croats.

Two ethnic groups, the Serbs who follow the Orthodox Church and the mostly Catholic Croats have had a history of bloody fighting in this area of what is now Bosnia Herzegovina.

“From this city, marked in the course of history by so much suffering and bloodshed, I ask Almigthy 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,” the Pope said in Banja Luka Sunday.

The Pope’s visit was dedicated to the beatification of local Catholic layman Ivan Merz (1896-1928). However, besides beatification, which is a step towards sainthood in the Catholic Church, what has been seen as the Pope’s apology on behalf of Catholic Croats was viewed by analysts as crucial.

“It means that Catholics should feel sorry for the crimes of World War II,” political analyst Drago Pilsel told IPS. “But it is also a signal to others to repent for what they did in the last war and turn towards reconciliation.”

Banja Luka is the capital of the Republic of Srpska, the Serb part of Bosnia- Herzegovina. It is often viewed as the symbol of ethnic cleansing by Serbs in the 1992-95 war, when Croats and Muslims were expelled from the areas where Serbs lived.

Now, 90 percent of the 300,000 people in this town are Serbs. In pre-war Banja Luka, Serbs were 55 percent of the population, with Croats and Muslims making the rest.

The Sunday message addressed painful memories of Serbs, and of crimes committed against them 60 years ago.

A slaugher of some 2,500 Orthodox Serbs by Catholic Croats started from the Petricevac area of Banja Luka in 1942. This was the very spot where the Pontiff held the holy mass on Sunday.

A Franciscan priest, Tomislav Filipovic, had joined soldiers of the Croatian army in killing Serbs in three villages surrounding Banja Luka. The Croatian regime was a puppet of Nazi Germany, notorious for its extermination of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies until 1945.

Serbs often sought to justify their actions against Croats in Banja Luka in the 1992-95 war with talk of World War II wounds that would not heal. In vicious revenge, they burnt down the Catholic church and the Franciscan monastery at Petricevac in 1995.

The Pope held the Sunday mass at a gathering to mark that occasion.

“The problem of reconciliation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is a complicated one,” says Dragan Covic, Croat member of the government of the collective state presidency. “There will always be those who disagree, but we hope that in the course of the years they will become a minority.” Under the Dayton Peace accords that ended the 1992-95 war, the republic has a three-member presidency, representing Serbs, Croats and Muslims.

Among some Serbs who stayed back at their homes Sunday, the Pope’s apology for the second world war crimes brought some relief. “It was high time the crimes were admitted,” said teacher Jovan Maricic (55). “But for many innocent victims on all sides this means nothing. No apologies can bring back the dead and it is an irony of history that we admit and learn certain things too late.”

Some indication that the apology had been at least partially accepted came when the Orthodox Bishop of Banja Luka attended the reception given by the Pope at the Catholic Church Diocese of Banja Luka.

No leader of the Orthodox Church attended the event at Petricevac. Neither the Serbian Orthodox Church nor Serb officials have commented on the apology.

The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina ended in 1995 under international pressure, and the peace accords sponsored by the United States. The wars left more than 200,000 dead and uprooted some two million people of all three nations.

About a million people have returned since 1995 to their old homes, but another million have decided never to go back.