Archbishop Bozanić of Zagreb calls for prayer for peace in Kosovo and Yugoslavia
Zagreb
Zagreb, March 29, 1999 (IKA) – Archbishop Josip Bozanić of Zagreb urged the Catholic faithful to pray for peace in Kosovo during a sermon delivered following the praying of the Way of the Cross on Palm Sunday, March 28. “Since the 1920#!s, the power of evil has been strong and effective in these territories. Many people have been murdered, butchered or exiled. Ethnic cleansing has been perpetrated in the name of nationalism and ideology … These days we hear sorrowful news about the sufferings in Kosovo and throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This worries and frightens us. We feel compassion for all who are suffering during these days, who are losing their loved ones, regardless of their national or ethnic affiliations,” stated Archbishop Bozanić, urging the faithful to pray “for peace in Kosovo and throughout Yugoslavia, for peace among our neighbors … Their peace is also a guarantee of our peace,” added Archbishop Bozanić in his sermon, quoting to the words of the Holy Father at the Zagreb Hippodrome in 1994: “The advancement and good of the nations in the Balkans have only one name: peace.”