The Catholic bishops this week held a regular meeting in Sarajevo at which they discussed the current situation in the country.
Banja Luka Bishop Franjo Komarica reiterated at a news conference, held after the dignitaries' meeting, that only 12,000 of the 220,000 pre-war Catholic residents of the areas now belonging to the Bosnian Serb entity now lived in that entity.
We must point the finger at key international officials and organisations, including the Office of the High Representative to Bosnia, or the UNHCR, as well as local politicians and authorities holding them responsible for this situation, Komarica said.
Asked by the press whether the Catholic Church in Bosnia-Herzegovina was still insisting on regulating its legal position in the country through a special agreement with the Vatican, Sarajevo Archbishop Cardinal Vinko Puljic answered in the affirmative.
"We expect the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina to behave responsibly towards the Holy See, which has supported this country so much," Cardinal Puljic said, adding that the agreements with the Vatican did not mean that the local Catholic Church would enjoy a privileged position but only that its internal organisation would be respected.