Zagreb (IKA) – It is difficult to number all the things that our Pope did for us. He recognized our roots and the history of our faith, he honored our models of holiness, he emphasized culture and family values, he defended our religious and national rights and he encouraged and guided our view to the future with his pastoral words, emphasized the archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, at a Requiem Mass celebrated for Pope John Paul II on April 4, before approximately ten thousand of the faithful assembled inside and outside the Zagreb Cathedral. Noting that the word “thank you” links Croatia with the Pope of blessed memory, Cardinal Bozanić said that we felt that he was ours, sometimes “adopted him” because we were amazed how well he understood us when others could not or would not. He soothed our pain when many did not even see the wounds, much less try to heal them.

Recalling the Pope’s three Apostolic visits to Croatia, the cardinal said that they remain the jewels of Croatian spirituality. He noted that the Pope had visited the Zagreb Cathedral on two occasions, at moments when the Church among us and our people needed not only his words but also his presence. The cardinal observed that however much people wanted to reduce the Pope’s activity to the political and social levels, it sprang from the theological truth of the Redemption. The Holy Father was a pilgrim of peace, joy, community, ecumenicism, genuine philanthropy, bridge building, reconciliation, safeguarding of the culture of life, a champion of justice and a pilgrim who always wanted to cultivate the truth about a person, said the cardinal, recalling that in the world and in our country, the Holy Father first sought the little people and the poor, the disenfranchised and the distant. He reached out to them, even when he was limited by the constraints of protocol.

The cardinal noted that among the first words John Paul II spoke to the faithful as the Successor of Peter were: “Be not afraid!” The cardinal commented that the Holy Father knew that he did not change the world and history, a man in a responsible position as the Successor of Peter, but that it was the Spirit of God who gave him strength in the greatest trials, in the most diverse places, to live and convey the words of the Resurrected Christ: “Be not afraid!” He knew that they were needed by those living without freedom under totalitarianism; he knew that they were needed in the path toward community and reconciliation; he knew that these words must penetrate the walls of Church disunity and self-containment among nations and religions. He incorporated them into his many pilgrimages, in the farthest reaches of the world.

During the homily, the cardinal pointed out he had experienced John Paul II as a mystic, charismatic and prophet. The cardinal had a special experience of the Pope’s proximity during an automobile trip from Zagreb to Marija Bistrica on October 3, 1998. As a mystic, the Pope was joined to the Divine Mystery, from which he drew the light for a different and new view of events and people, an evangelical view that was demanding and, as the cardinal said, may have been the reason why he was not completely understood.

The Pope as a charismatic, according to the cardinal, was connected with people until the last moment, who considered him to be a part of themselves. He conquered hearts with the simplicity of his approach, conviction, and his penetrating and warm eyes. The cardinal said that the Pope had compassion for the person shoved into the darkness of mercilessness. He knew the words he had to say and spoke for those who could not speak. The Pope sensed where the rights of nations and individuals were being choked and where the truth was forgotten. He found the strength for seeking and promoting forgiveness when reasons and various excuses were sought not to forgive. Finally, he knew that hope must not be extinguished.

As a prophet, the Pope remained alone many times in the loneliness of his vision, a man of God pressed by the weight of the cross but at the same time supported by it, said the cardinal. The voice of the prophet is not lost in our human discords. The voice of the prophet seeks the truth in the depths of the heart, said the cardinal.

During the homily, Cardinal Bozanić also pointed out that John Paul II knew how to communicate with the modern media and used various languages in evangelization. As a sufferer, he made people sensitive to the signs with which he wanted to convey Divine Truth to humankind in a variety of ways.

At the end of the Mass, gratitude was expressed by the apostolic nuncio in the Republic of Croatia, Archbishop Francisco Javier Lozano, particularly thanking Cardinal Bozanić for his words full of love and devotion, expressing not only his personal fidelity to the Successor of Peter but the devotion of the entire Croatian nation to the Holy Father. Thanking all the participants in the Requiem Mass, Nuncio Lozano said that the expressions of personal affection for the Holy Father, condolences at these sorrowful moments, and so many signs of respect and devotion that he followed via the media in all parts of Croatia, confirm how much the Croatian nation loved John Paul II, the Great. Archbishop Lozano pointed out that history will assess the Pope’s place and role in its time but already now we can state without fear that we find ourselves before a pontificate that was one of the most fruitful, important and profoundly renewing in recent centuries, and it can be said in the history of the Church.

Auxiliary Bishop Josip Mrzljak wished Cardinal Bozanić a good trip to Rome, where he will participate in the funeral ceremonies for John Paul II, the work of the College of Cardinals and the conclave. Bishop Mrzljak mentioned that for the first time in history, there will be two cardinals of the Croatian nation, Cardinal Bozanić and Cardinal Vinko Puljić, in the Sistine Chapel. In addition to Cardinal Bozanić, Nuncio Lozano and Bishop Mrzljak, the concelebrants were Auxiliary Bishops Valentin Pozaić and Vlado Košić, Military Bishop Juraj Jezerinac, retired Archbishops Ante Jurić of Split-Makarska and Marijan Oblak of Zadar, and numerous priests.

The Mass was attended by the highest Government officials: the president of the Republic, Stjepan Mesić; the speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Vladimir Šeks; and the prime minister, Ivo Sanader, who was the last state official to be received by the Holy Father in an official audience. The Requiem Mass was also attended by representatives of other Christian Churches and religious communities, including Mufti Ševko Omerbašić, the Serbian Orthodox metropolitan and bishop of Zagreb-Ljubljana and all Italy, Jovan Pavlović; and the secretary general of the League of Baptist Churches, Željko Mraz.