Zagreb, October 4, 1997, (IKA)
Most Eminent Apostolic Nuncio,
Most Reverend Fathers, Archbishops and Bishops,
Reverend Fathers, Provincials,
Most Reverend Canons and Prebendaries of the Cathedral Chapter of Zagreb,
Dear fellow priests, monks and sister nuns,
Honorable representatives of the Croatian Parliament and Chamber of Counties, Most Reverend representatives of the Orthodox Church, Christian churches, the Jewish community and the Islamic community,
Dear believers, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, fathers and mothers, young people and
children,

“The time of my departure is near!” (2 Tim 4, 6).

At the outset, I appeal to you! At this celebration of the Mass, let us be a community of faith. As a living Church, let us pray for God#!s blessing upon the new shepherd of the Zagreb Archdiocese, Msgr. Josip Bozanić. First of all, I wish to present him to you as my successor. From my heart, I recommend that you receive him with love, devotion and complete trust. Appointed by the Holy Father, John Paul II, as the archbishop of Zagreb and metropolitan archbishop, he comes to us as an emissary from Jesus Christ to be, in the words of the apostle Paul, “a continuing example of love, faith and purity to believers” (1 Tim 4, 12).
As we heartily congratulate him, we devotedly pray for the intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God and the Heavenly Church for abundant light, wisdom and the strength of the Holy Spirit!
My dear successor! With God#!s grace, “you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, reared in the words of faith and the sound doctrine you have faithfully followed” (1 Tim 4, 6).
I entrust to you the Zagreb Archdiocese that has been territorially reduced by the establishment of the new dioceses of Požega and Varaždin, for which I wish God#!s blessing. I entrust to your heart and conscience the priests, monks, nuns and all the faithful of the Zagreb Church. Be for them, like Jesus#! apostle, a teacher and administrator of the mysteries of God (cf. 1 Cor 4, 1), leading them on God#!s path because “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom 8, 14). Blessed are you who come in the name of the Lord!
And now, “the time of my departure is near!” (2 Tim 4, 6).
I humbly and contritely thank merciful God for all the graces, protection and help he has bestowed upon me during the performance of my duties as a priest, bishop and archbishop in the Zagreb Archdiocese. We could have done nothing good in such a responsible mission without divine grace!
If I have succeeded in doing something good, besides the merciful Lord, I also thank my many faithful and self-sacrificing associates in our Church: bishops, priests, monks, nuns and the dear faithful. With your help, prayer and support, it was possible to persevere under the trials and difficulties I encountered in hard times that were unfavorable for the proclamation of the Gospels!
With your help and engagement, it was possible to realize the great events in our Church life offered by divine providence for the reinforcement of our community in the Lord and for the clear profession of our commitment to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “who loves us and freed us from our sins by his own blood, who has made us a royal nation of priests in the service of his God and Father” (Rev 1, 5-6).
May I be permitted to mention the most significant holy events, in order to give us courage and strengthen our faith!
At the very beginning of my service as a bishop, as an auxiliary bishop in Zagreb, I had the opportunity to participate in the work of the final sessions of the Second Vatican Council. All the years of my service as archbishop are imbued with the spirit of this Council, with efforts to implement the renewal to which the Holy Spirit, through this Council, spurred the entire Church. Together with all the Croatian bishops, I bore the responsibility for implementing the decisions and directives of this Council under the particularly difficult conditions of a regime that was unfavorable for the Church and religion. In community with all the priests and the faithful of the Zagreb Archdiocese, we directly implemented specific liturgical renewal and modernized Church legislation. We continued this never ending task under the new conditions of national independence and the building of a democratic society. The entire period of my service as bishop and archbishop has been marked from the beginning by the renewal of the Catholic press, and most recently Catholic radio — mass media in the service of the proclamation and testimony of faith. It was a difficult task to be responsible for collaboration between our Church shepherds and the busy staffs of Catholic publications. As a young bishop, for a time I performed the duties of an editor-in-chief, during which I experienced direct pressures and threats from the authorities.
In 1971, the International Mariological and Marian Congress was held in Zagreb and Marija Bistrica. In Marija Bistrica, this congress brought together a large number devout believers in prayer, song and joy!
This was followed in 1976 by the celebration of Thirteen Centuries of Christianity Among the Croats at the Shrine of Our Lady of Otok in Solin, at the tombs of the Croatian kings and Queen Jelena. On Queen Jelena#!s tomb, testimony is inscribed in stone that she was the mother of the kingdom and protectress of orphans. Unanticipated crowds of the faithful responded to the invitation of the bishop on the bank of the Jadra River and were filled with joy and new hope!
For our Church and national history, there was a crucial event in the 9th century, in the year 879, when the Croatian ruler Branimir sent a letter to Pope John VIII, reaffirming the fealty of the Croatian Catholic nation to the Successor of St. Peter. This document confirmed that we belong to the Catholic Church and the cultural circle of Western civilization. In response, the Pope wrote that on the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord, he celebrated a Mass at the grave of St Peter and raised his arms to bless Branimir, his country and his nation. In 1979, we commemorated this event in Nin, on Grgurovo polje. A river of pilgrims, perhaps three hundred thousand, attended this event. This river of God#!s nation among the nation of the Croats swelled and grew to 400,000 pilgrims at Marija Bistrica in 1984 on the occasion of the National Eucharistic Congress.
Finally, we all remember the assembly of a million persons who gathered at the hippodrome in Zagreb on September 11, 1994 when Zagreb and Croatia were visited by the Holy Father, John Paul II, on the occasion of the 900th anniversary of the establishment of the Zagreb Diocese.
All these celebrations were professions of faith and the Church community. They certainly brought the fruits of spiritual renewal and conversion to many souls. Were these not the fruits of many prayers and much suffering for the love of God and the homeland?
Great sacrifice, faith and love were invested in these holy events by known and unknown persons. I now thank them all!
And now, a few words about my mission as the archbishop of Zagreb.
In this cathedral, when I ascended the cathedra of the shepherd of the Zagreb Church, I said: “In the name of the Lord, I come to you as the curate of souls of the Zagreb Archdiocese. This is a moving moment in my personal life, when I assume the episcopal throne of the Zagreb Archdiocese. In assuming this office, I take upon my conscience great concern for the spiritual family, and thereby embark upon the historical path, not only of the Croatian capital city but of the Croatian nation. This is a steep, difficult and responsible path. I begin it here in a cathedral consecrated to the Assumption of the Mother of God into Heaven, in the name of God and under the wing of the same Virgin Mother of God” (Kuhari , Hodajmo u istini [Let us Walk in Truth], Zagreb, 1974, p. 15).
It was a time when many Croatian Catholics were sorrowfully leaving their Croatian homeland, to be scattered throughout all the continents and along the shores of all the oceans, in nearly all the countries of Western Europe as well as Canada, North America, South America, Australia and New Zealand. Thousands made their residence in South Africa. The Croatian bishops considered it their pastoral duty to offer spiritual care to all our emigrant and dispersed faithful. Msgr. Vladimir Stankoviæ organized Croatian Catholic missions and parishes, to which he sent priests, monks, nuns, pastoral workers and social workers to provide a place where Croatian faithful could find refuge, protection and a religious community.
This was a difficult path for the Croatian nation. We Croatian bishops considered it our duty to go out to our faithful throughout the world, to gather them and strengthen their faith. We attempted to preserve their faith, dignity and awareness that they belong to their homeland and their nation. These circumstances led me to travel throughout the world. I also travelled throughout the homeland. I visited all the dioceses at the invitations of the local priests, attending various events in order to confirm and profess the warm community of the Church among the Croats. I thank everyone for their kind invitations and receptions.
In accepting the office of the archbishop of Zagreb in 1970, I announced the principles that inspire and guide me in fulfilling my responsibilities toward the Church and toward man, which I expressed in these words:
“We believe in justice. The truth about God and the truth about man are the foundations of justice. Justice is the recognition of the truth. Justice is the implementation of law. God is entitled to our love. God is entitled to demand that people live according to his will, because God#!s will reveals a man#!s purpose and safeguards his dignity. From God#!s will come all the holy and inalienable rights that an individual has in relations toward other people and the human community, as well as the rights that the human community has in relations toward him (Ibid., p. 16).
“A person hungers for justice as he does for truth. The Church must always be on the side of those who hunger and thirst for justice. It must always be on the side of all who suffer injustice and are degraded … Relations among people and nations must be based upon justice.
“We must be just when we evaluate the past, just in building the present. It is necessary to build the future upon just foundations, #!for by righteousness the throne endures#!” (Proverbs 16, 12; Ibid., p. 16.)
However, the inspiration of justice must be love. I learned this in the school of the Second Vatican Council. I found an example of this in the former archbishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepinac. I considered this an obligation of conscience and obedience to the word of God.
In following this principle through the period of my service as archbishop, I considered it my duty, during the great tests for the Church, to defend the innocence and honor of Archbishop Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac. In defending him, I was defending the fundamental right of every person to a just trial; I was defending all human and national rights. There were so many people who were deprived of their rights to declare their faith publicly, who were unjustly accused and condemned and thereby deprived of their rights to freedom and a life of dignity. “Messages from the grave of Stepinac” had this meaning.
The principles of truth, justice and freedom also guided my words and deeds during the period of the recent war that was waged against Croatia. It was a war against the millennial rights of the Croatian nation to exist in freedom and safety. We considered that the defense of one#!s own home and homeland, one#!s life and freedom was not only a right but a moral duty. However, we also interceded for the rights of every person, regardless of his religious, national or other affiliations. In defending the rights for a free Croatian nation, we also defended the rights of every human being.
We publicly and loudly proclaimed throughout the entire war that defense must never be permitted to turn into vengeance and hatred; it must remain within the norms of ethics and morality. Therefore, it must never be allowed to turn into a crime against a person, against the property of others.
We rejoiced when, at the cost of great sacrifice, the millennial right of the Croatian nation to establish a free, independent and sovereign Croatian state was realized. Not only large and powerful nations but also small nations have the right to exist in complete freedom, which is guaranteed to them by their own state. If every person and every family has the right to their home or apartment, likewise every nation has the right to its state because it is its home and homeland. We have always emphasized that all human beings are of equal dignity. It is the same with all nations, whether large or small, that have the same dignity and the same rights. No nation, however powerful, has the right to oppress another.
Nevertheless, we always emphasize that Croatia must be a country blessed with safety, freedom and righteousness for all its citizens. The state has the right to demand that all its citizens respect and implement just laws and fulfill their duties toward the community. However, the state also must safeguard the rights of every citizen. The state must protect the dignity of the human being, the dignity of the family and the holiness of human life from conception in the mother#!s womb to the moment when God calls a person from temporal existence to eternity.
At a time and in a situation when voices are again being raised against peace and the justified interests of our homeland, when the Church is being accused because it did not speak according to orders from the outside, we must reiterate that only just judgment builds a culture of law and veracity for evaluating the work of others.
I examine my conscience before God. He shall be a just and merciful judge. People of sincere intention and objective judgment will make their evaluations according to the principles of justice. I leave it to them to analyze how I have attempted to fulfill my mission.
In examining my conscience, I must always bear in mind the words of Jesus: “It is quite the same with you who hear me. When you have done all you have been commanded to do, say, #!We are useless servants. We have done no more than our duty.#!” (Lk 17, 10). Only with God#!s help could we do something good. For omissions, we repent with contrition.
A book has gone to press of the Lenten-Easter pastoral letters I have issued during my twenty-seven years of serving the Church and the public as archbishop. I reflected in public on God, Jesus Christ, mankind, the important truths of faith, sacraments and God#!s commandments. My conscience was guided by the words of the apostle Paul: “I am ruined if I do not proclaim the Gospels!” (1 Cor 9, 16). May this be my spiritual testament to our Church! I urge all to harmony, to sincere cooperation, to religious engagement for the Kingdom of God for all the faithful: young and grown, healthy and sick, learned and unlearned! I pray for forgiveness from one and all if I have committed injury to love and justice toward anyone. I sincerely forgive everyone before the Lord if they have in any way offended me or inflicted injustice upon me. To all benefactors who have done any kindness to me through prayer, gifts and cooperation, I thank them from my heart. I sincerely regret that I could not help everyone who sought assistance from me. I was always sorry that the possibilities for providing assistance were so limited. May they forgive me.
“The time of my departure is near!” (2 Tim 4, 6), but you, dear Zagreb Archdiocese, are not leaving my heart and my prayers. I contritely pray for all of you and permanently entrust you, together with Archbishop Josip, to the Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God whom we justifiably call the “Queen of the Croats” because of her maternal help throughout our difficult history.
To you, my dear successor, in conclusion I refer you to the encouragement of the psalmist: “Cast your care upon the Lord, and he will support you; never will he permit the just man to be disturbed” (Ps 55/23).
“May he who is the Lord of peace give you continued peace in every possible way!” (2 Thess 3, 16). I entrust all of you to the love and protection of the Holy Trinity: to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! May it be thus! Amen!

Franjo Cardinal Kuharić