Komsic's statement was carried by the Mostar-based Dnevni List daily on Wednesday in response to criticism from the Bosnian Catholic Church that "Komsic did not show any particular openness" when he discussed with the primate of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, the building of a church in Grbavica in his capacity as head of Novo Sarajevo municipality.
The secretary-general of the Bosnian Bishops' Conference, Ivo Tomasevic, was quoted by the same newspaper a day before as saying that Puljic would not respond to Komsic's open letter about further explanations of the dignitary's stance on his election to the state presidency and that in their previous meetings Komsic did not show openness to cooperation.
"I did not obstruct the building of the church. Furthermore, I did propose the elaboration of the project of the Church of St. Ignatius, which I had to do in compliance with formal and legal regulations. However, residents of the Grbavica community rejected (the project) in a public debate," Komsic told the daily.
Commenting on the circumstances surrounding the request for the construction of the church at Grbavica, Komsic sad he had warned Cardinal Puljic that the mood of the locals was not in favour of building the church, and that the locals also insisted on discontinuing the construction of a mosque in their residential area.
According to some estimates, 40 percent of Bosnia's citizens are Muslim faithful and Roman Catholics account for 15 percent. Most Catholic believers are Croats.