Banja Luka, (IKA/TABB) – On Thursday, August 13, at the Episcopal Ordinariate in Banja Luka, the Bishop of Banja Luka, Dr. Franjo Komarica, held a press conference on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the beginning of the definitive expulsion of the remaining Catholics from the region of the Banja Luka Diocese in the entity of the Republika Srpska. The conference, attended by approximately 15 journalists from several media outlets, was moderated by Prof. Dr. Miljenko Aničić, Director of Caritas of the Banja Luka Diocese.
Recalling the words of Pope Francis in Sarajevo, that we should all be builders of a just peace in the country, Bishop Komarica explained that the occasion for his presentation was the “definitive expulsion of the unarmed, peaceable non-Serbian population—Catholics and others—from the Banja Luka region,” which began on August 14, 1995.
The bishop explained that he wanted to remind the public of some facts, i.e., attempts that he, together with his associates, had undertaken during those dramatic days. He said he was doing so for his younger fellow citizens, who are not acquainted with the events of that time, and also because “there are those who are not sufficiently acquainted with these facts or deliberately distort them.”
The bishop presented a whole series of data about his undertakings for all disenfranchised people. He expressed his sorrow due to the bitter and painful truths “of the legalization of a fascistoid, genocidal project of ethnic cleansing by many of our contemporaries, who during these twenty years have been entrusted with responsible political duties in this region.” He presented catastrophic data regarding the number of Catholics remaining in the territory of his diocese in the entity of the Republika Srpska twenty years after the war. Emphasizing that once again he considered it his “duty before God, before the Church and before history” to raise his voice in defense of truth and justice, and for reconciliation and a just peace, the bishop made a public appeal: “Let us correct the injustice that cries out to heaven, which was inflicted upon our innocent fellow citizens and contemporaries, so that our country can finally begin to achieve a just and lasting peace!”

The bishop’s presentation was followed by questions from journalists, who were particularly interested in the current social situation in Banja Luka and the region as manifested in the hundreds of cases that Caritas of the Banja Luka Diocese is attempting to resolve. Such questions were addressed by Dr. Miljenko Aničić.
The journalists were also interested in the beatification process for the four priests of the Banja Luka Diocese killed during World War II, about which Bishop Komarica provided specific information.