Solin, September 8, 1996 (IKA) – Over 100,000 Catholic faithful, led by the president of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Cardinal Franjo Kuharić; the president of the Bosnian-Herzegovian Conference of Bishops, Cardinal Vinko Puljić; the Venetian Patriarch, Cardinal Marko Ce; the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Giulio Einaudi, thirteen archbishops and bishops from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and numerous priests celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the oldest Croatian votive Marian shrine in Solin, not far from Split, and the twentieth anniversary of the Great Croatian Baptismal Oath. Twenty years ago, the Church among the Croats assembled its faithful in Solin to celebrate thirteen centuries of Christianity among the Croats and the thousandth anniversary of the oldest Croatian church consecrated to Our Lady. This church was built by the Croatian Queen Jelena. With the recitation of this oath, a sense of national unity in faith was awakened.
In Solin, Cardinal Kuharić emphasized in his sermon that this celebration begins the three-year preparation of the Church among the Croats for the great celebration of the third millennium. He also pointed out the need to proclaim the Gospels anew and emphasized five truths about a person. The first truth is that a person is a being created from love for Iove. The second truth is that a person is also a sinful being. The third truth is that a person has been redeemed and saved, because this is how God responded to human sin. The fourth truth is that a person is an ethical being. The fifth truth is the “fundamental truth, that a person is an immortal being”, that his life extends into Divine eternity. The purpose of human existence is neither time, nor wealth, nor power, nor pleasure but eternity. Therefore, the cardinal called for private and public behavior in harmony with these truths. He emphasized that a person exists from his conception and should be respected as such, as it is necessary to honor all people, regardless of religious, national or other affiliations or sex. The cardinal rejected every form of discrimination, calling the faithful to differentiate good from evil in themselves. “Good is good, evil is evil. No matter how much people stray and change their concepts, it is never possible to equate good with evil, or evil with good, because the difference is unbridgeable. A person must always decide and choose whether he wants to follow the path of goodness or the path of evil”, stated the archbishop of Zagreb, again calling all in their private and public lives to respect ethical norms in preparation for entry into the third Christian millennium. Then the president of the Croatian Conference of Bishops explained how the Church among the Croats does not want and “cannot ever preach other morals, other faith, even when in deep-rooted conflict with the world end with the spirit of this world” and appealed to the faithful to pray ardently for spiritual renewal. He also asked them to renew the baptismal oath together. After the renewal of the baptismal promises, the gifts were presented: a candle as a sign of devotion to God, Višeslav#!s baptismal font from the era of the baptism of the Croats as a sign of the religious heritage and Christian present, bread and wine, and the tombstone of Queen Jelena, the patroness of those in trouble and need, from the 10th century. Two white doves where presented at the and as a sign of freedom and peace. On this occasion, the archbishop of Zagreb, Franjo Kuharić, read a prayer recited twenty years ago in the shrine of Cur Lady of Otok in Solin. He called upon the faithful to turn to a better, happier and more peaceful future on Christ#!s path with renewed and profound faith. At the end of the celebration, the assembled were greeted by the archbishop of Sarajevo, Cardinal Vinko Puljić, who spoke about problems encountered by the Church in Bosnia-Herzegovina.