Banja Luka, June 21, 2003 (IKA) – Speaking about the significance of the forthcoming visit by the Holy Father for the Croats, Catholics and other peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in an interview with the Press Agency of the Banja Luka Diocese (TABB), Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka stated that he is certain that the Pope knows that the current situation is highly dramatic, because the Croats and Catholics have been drastically expelled from Banja Luka, the Banja Luka region and a large part of Bosnia. Others were also driven out but have been enabled to return to their homes in far greater numbers, explained the bishop, noting that only a small number of Croats are returning. Observing that something is certainly out of order in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina and that, in his opinion, the approach to treating the wounds of war has been extremely unjust, Bishop Komarica stated that he knows for a fact that certain influential individuals do not want to build a just peace, do not want to make the truth known and do not want to correct the great injustices inflicted upon the people, although this is generally concealed from the public and not discussed in the media. Therefore, said the bishop, the arrival of the Holy Father to Banja Luka is being anticipated by Catholics and others with unconcealed joy.
Pointing out that the Pope is coming to Banja Luka, a city from which its the former inhabitants, Croats and others, have been harshly expelled, that nearly 80,000 Croats have been driven from the territory of the entire Banja Luka Diocese and less than 7,000 have returned, while not even 2,000 have returned to the territory of the Republika Srpska, Bishop Komarica stated that all of this is known to the Holy Father. Bishop Komarica believes that the Pope, despite illness and advanced years, wants to tell these disenfranchised, humiliated and scorned people that they are not scorned by God, they are not scorned by the Pope. If others have forgotten them, especially those who were supposed to be in charge of looking after them, the local and international political officials, the Pope is demonstrating that he has not forgotten them, said Bishop Komarica. Expressing his gratitude that the Pope will beatify the Venerable Ivan Merz in Banja Luka, and not in Rome or some other city, Bishop Komarica said that this was an exceptional gift beyond description from God to all Catholics, but also to all other people of good will. With the beatification of Ivan Merz, Banja Luka will receive a completely different epitaph than during the 1990s, when it was synonymous with darkness, crimes, contempt for God and God’s laws, and deep contempt for its own fellow citizens/former inhabitants, explained Bishop Komarica, pointing out that almost half of the former population of Banja Luka no longer lives there and that Catholics are in the minority. Noting that the Pope is coming to Banja Luka to the Catholics, and there are very few Banja Luka Catholics because they have not been permitted to return to their homes, Bishop Komarica said that this was an absurd aspect of this unique and magnificent event for Banja Luka, because the people of Banja Luka who were brutally expelled from their city and have still not been able to return are the most deserving to attend the beatification of the most worthy son of Banja Luka,.
In response to a question about the prevailing atmosphere prior to the Pope’s arrival in Banja Luka among the media of the Republika Srpska and the people, the bishop responded that the non-Catholics working on the preparations for the Pope’s arrival are truly working hard and sincerely want to contribute to the success of the visit. “I saw by the reactions of the domestic politicians and a large number of the domestic media that they have a sincere and well-intentioned approach to the preparations for this event,” he said. However, Bishop Komarica also mentioned that there are some who express themselves unsuitably and resentfully, who repeat untruths about a person who is highly esteemed by the entire world.

In response to whether he believes that the Pope’s visit to Banja Luka will “open doors,” if not for the return of displaced persons and refugees to their homes, in which many no longer believe, then at least for better understanding and preventing a repetition of the terrible suffering endured by the people, the bishop responded that nothing will ever be the same after June 22. The Pope’s visit and his passage through all the artificially created barriers of mistrust and hostility among peoples, signifies the opening of actual doors for the triumph of community, good and love, respect and reconciliation, trust, respect of each other and differences, doors enabling people to come together. The bishop of Banja Luka also stated that he was convinced that many who until now have been indecisive in exercising their rights to return will receive a new incentive to return to their homes. He expressed the hope that many of those who did not want to make it possible for the expelled people to return to their homes and live in dignity will change their attitudes. The bishop also stated that he is particularly looking forward to the time when certain international officials and domestic politicians will reverse what has been until now their profoundly inhumane stance toward displaced persons and refugees. In the opinion of the bishop of Banja Luka, it is markedly unjust that so few Croats, i.e. Catholics, are in Banja Luka and the vicinity today. Of the 40,000 Catholics who lived in Banja Luka prior to the war, there are barely 3,400 today. In the territory of the entity of the Republika Srpska, that belongs to the Banja Luka Diocese, barely 7,000 Catholics remain out of the 80,000 who lived there prior to the war.