Zagreb, (IKA) – A report on last year’s and plans for this year’s Week of Solidarity with the Church and People in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatian foreign pastoral ministry, liturgical issues and victims who suffered martyrdom due to religious hatred were the topics of today’s joint session of the Croatian Conference of Bishops and the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as reported by Croatian Catholic Radio. The morning session was attended by the Apostolic Nuncio in the Republic of Croatia, Archbishop Alessandro D’ Errico.

The joint session was opened by the President of the Croatia Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Želimir Puljić. He pointed out that the two bishops’ conferences bear joint responsibility toward the same nation and recalled that some parts of the territories of both conferences endured horrific floods last year. “There were scenes that greatly resembled those of the terrible years of the recent war. In addition to the sad images that spread those days and months around the world, we are also witnesses to those other beautiful and positive experiences that emerged from an explosion of goodness at all levels and in all institutions,” said Archbishop Puljić.

The President of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka, reported on the most significant events for the Church and community in the territory of the BC B&H since the previous joint session held in February of last year in Banja Luka. He singled out two processes for beatification, the Servant of God Petar Barbarić, a student at the seminary in Travnik, and the Servant of God Josip Stadler, the first Archbishop and Metropolitan of Vrhbosna (Sarajevo), which are drawing to an end. Bishop Komarica expressed the hope that this year we shall experience at least one beatification, and added that there is also an ongoing process for the beatification of Herzegovian Franciscans killed in 1945. New processes in Sarajevo and Banja Luka will be opened soon.
Bishop Komarica also mentioned last year’s floods and said: “Particularly valuable assistance was provided by Caritas Croatia, even though it also had to take care of the needs of the flooded areas in the Croatian dioceses. I take this opportunity to express profound solidarity with Caritas Croatia and the branches of your (arch)dioceses, which reacted efficiently and provided valuable assistance to many of our flooded parishes as well as many non-Catholic flood victims in our country.

Nuncio D’Errico addressed those assembled and said that for the Church of God in Croatia, a year of grace had begun in the best possible way with the appointment of the new Bishop of Krk. The Nuncio greeted all the members of the CCB and sent a special greeting to the bishops of the BC B&H, noting that he has fond memories of the years when he served the Hoy See and Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He emphasized that at the diplomatic level, the Holy See has done everything possible to urge the international community to a greater commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croats in that country. In this context, as reported by KTA, he once again invited the bishops to increase their commitment and their collegial deliberation concerning the difficult situation of Catholics and the Croatian nation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also said that from the viewpoint of the Holy See, the annual joint session of the two bishops’ conferences is an important event because it provides an opportunity not only for joint decision-making on issues of common interest in pastoral life but also for joint deliberation about the challenges that the Croatian Catholic nation must currently confront in concrete situations.
Today’s joint session of the two bishops’ conferences was also attended by the newly appointed Bishop of Krk, Ivica Petanjak. The President of the Croatian Conference of Bishops welcomed him to the corps of Croatian bishops. “I should wish that you, as a worthy follower of the spirit of St. Francis and an expert in Church history, would be a wise counselor in the promotion of consecrated life and the formation of clergy and laity, so that we, through liturgical, charitable, ecumenical and missionary activity, can provide the world with devout Christian witness,” said Archbishop Puljić, as reported by Croatian Catholic Radio.