RIJEKA, June 8 (Hina) - Pope John Paul II on Sunday met and had lunch at the seminary in Rijeka with Croatian bishops and cardinals and bishops from his entourage. On that occasion, Zagreb Archbishop Josip Bozanic greeted the pope and
thanked him on behalf of the Croatian Bishops' Conference.
RIJEKA, June 8 (Hina) - Pope John Paul II on Sunday met and had lunch
at the seminary in Rijeka with Croatian bishops and cardinals and
bishops from his entourage. On that occasion, Zagreb Archbishop
Josip Bozanic greeted the pope and thanked him on behalf of the
Croatian Bishops' Conference. #L#
Bozanic said the Holy Father's previous visits, from 1994, when he
had come like an angel of peace and from 1996, when he had beatified
Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, were engraved in the memories of the
people.
Many changes have occurred during the past decade in Croatia, in
both the society and the Church, Bozanic said, stressing that the
Croatian people had throughout their history felt "the pope's
fatherly closeness, comfort and help".
"The Croatian people and especially the Church in Croatia are
indefinitely grateful to you," Bozanic said.
He recalled the Croatian Bishops' Conference was celebrating a
jubilee this year, as well as that the Holy Father had founded the
Croatian Bishops' Conference ten years ago.
In that period, church structures consolidated and four new
agreements between Croatia and the Holy See were ratifies, said
Bozanic.
He thanked the pope for beatifying sister Marija of Crucified Jesus
Petkovic, and for the soon to be beatified the Servant of God Ivan
Merz, who died in Zagreb in 1928. The pope will beatify him in Merz's
native city of Banja Luka in fifteen days.
The archbishop said the Croatian bishops were honoured for the
pope's third pastoral visit to Croatia taking place in the year
devoted to the Rosary, the 25th year of his pontificate.
(hina) lml sb