News in English     | 17.05.2020. 22:09 |

Cardinal Puljić: Today we gathered in prayer to pay respect to all the victims

FENA Aida Kovač

SARAJEVO, May 177 (FENA) - The Archbishop of Vrhbosna, Cardinal Vinko Puljić led on Saturday in the Sarajevo Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, as he said at the beginning of his sermon, the Holy Mass for all Bleiburg victims and all victims of war and post-war period. 

In his sermon, Cardinal Puljić said that "to be present and participate in this holy mass for the victims on the Bleiburg field, and all the victims of hatred would be impossible without special trembling of the heart and of the soul."

"Spontaneously, the feeling of respect and a feeling of trust in God awakens in the heart. This is the fundamental reason why I have accepted, on behalf of all Bishops in the Croat people, to lead the Holy Mass and faithful remembrance on the 75th anniversary of the suffering of these victims from our people and other victims. First of all, we want to pray that prayer cleanses us from all bitter feelings and negative emotions, which appear lightly in all human beings when we remember these sufferings. Today we are gathered in prayer, in the most sacred act to show due respect to all the victims. With this respect, we want to preserve the due memory of them, but also of the price of freedom, which we live and build today," said Cardinal Puljić.

"Today, we mention all those who died in the camps, mountains, valleys and fields from the Bleiburg field through Dravograd and Maribor, Ogulin and Gospić, Jazovka and Macelj forests, Jasenovac and Glina, Kozara and Podgradac, Križevci and Bjelovar to Srijemska Mitrovica and Sarajevo, Foča and Zenica, Široki Brijeg and Mostar. We include in our prayer all the victims from other towns and villages, whether we know or do not know where their remains rest. We wonder when silence wound end about those graves. This largely depends on those that hold power today," said Cardinal Puljić.

It is clear, he added, that we need to create an atmosphere of coexistence, forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration of trust. But these important conditions of peacebuilding rest on the foundations of truth.

"The process of reconciliation and trust cannot be built without internal catharsis. It is necessary to call every single thing by its real name and to point out facts that cannot and must not be denied. Only by accepting the truth, as bitter as it may be, we free up space to create trust among people. He who does not want the truth puts himself behind the evil that he defends and thus supports the negative feelings among people. Such a person is not builders of peace but a spreader of evil. No crime can be defended. Whoever does not distance himself from the crime, becomes a participant and accomplice in the crime. This is equally true for the individual and the community at large," said Cardinal Puljić.

Puljić added that "no one has the right to ignore these victims for whom we are praying today."

"Likewise, no one has the right to provoke the pains of those who suffer for the loss of their loved ones. No one has the right to insult the victims of those who have incorporated parts of their body into this lump of land. That lump that we call our homeland is dedicated to all those victims. If we do not know how to respect that, then there is no human, religious or national dignity in us," said Puljić.

 With this, he did not want, he added, to provoke bitterness or hatred, especially not revenge.

"However, I want to make it clear that a real dialogue that leads to reconciliation is based on the acceptance of the truth. Some kind of history is being written today in which the killings are relativized because we are supposed to build trust and stabilization in the region. The memory of these victims is not a machine for incitement of hatred, as it was the case before the Homeland War of the 1990s, but it is an act of preservation of one's own dignity that should cultivate human and religious respect for innocent victims. I want, therefore, to repeat: No one has the right to ignore the victims we are praying for today. We Christians believe in eternal life and in the resurrection of the dead, as well as in the immortality of the soul. From that faith, we pray and pay due respect to the earthly remains of all victims," Puljić underlined.

He says that "today, marking the 75th anniversary of the Bleiburg victims of hatred and violence, we want to raise a dignified voice of the message to stop manipulating with the victims."

"We cannot build a civilization of love if we are not brave enough to accept the truth and go the path of Christ who prays for his enemies and forgives them. We want to be worthy descendants of those who have left us a legacy of faith in Christ, love for the Church and the Homeland, and deep respect for all people, especially for all innocent victims. We need to love this sacred heritage, live and die for it and leave it as a heritage to future generations," said Cardinal Vinko Puljić in a sermon at the Mass for all victims of World War II and especially for the Bleiburg victims.

Due to the existing restrictive measures because of the coronavirus pandemic, only 20 people were allowed to be present in the cathedral in addition to the priests. Among those present at the Mass were the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to BiH, Ivan Sabolić, and a delegation of the Croat People's Assembly in BiH.

(FENA) S. R.

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