OSIJEK OSIJEK, June 7 (Hina) - With the message "Peace be with you", Pope John Paul II greeted around 150,000 faithful gathered by the altar area of Cepin airport, where he celebrated the second Eucharist during his third pastoral
visit to Croatia June 5-9.
OSIJEK, June 7 (Hina) - With the message "Peace be with you", Pope
John Paul II greeted around 150,000 faithful gathered by the altar
area of Cepin airport, where he celebrated the second Eucharist
during his third pastoral visit to Croatia June 5-9. #L#
"Today's date and encounter with you will be inscribed in golden
letters in our national and religious history," Djakovo-Srijem
Bishop Marin Srakic said in his address to the pope at the beginning
of the Mass.
"Welcome, Holy Father, to a diocese steeped in the blood of martyrs,
from the time of the holy Panonian and Syrmian martyrs Ireneaeus,
Dimitri and Anatasia, Eusebius, and Polycarp -- for whom the
1,700th anniversary of their martyrdom will be commemorated next
year -- up to our time, when many priests and the faithful bore
witness to their faith in God, the Church and the Apostolic See,"
said the bishop.
Recalling the aggression on Croatia and the suffering in war,
especially mentioning Vukovar, "the symbol of our suffering",
Srakic said Croatians did not wish to be hostages of the past, but a
people with a view towards the future, which they want to build
together with the faithful of other Christian churches and
religious communities, as well as with all people of good will.
"May this Eucharist be for all an incentive for 'cleansing our
memories' together with forgiveness and reconciliation in truth
and respect for others," the bishop said.
The Mass was attended by representatives of Croatian state
authorities headed by President Stjepan Mesic, as well as
representatives of Osijek-Baranja County, Osijek City and other
religious communities.
At the beginning of the Mass, the faithful greeted the pope with a
long applause and by waving Vatican and Croatian flags.
(hina) lml sb