ZAGREB ARCHBISHOP INSISTS ON PRAYERS FOR PEACE

ZAGREB, Jan 1 (Hina) "On the very first day of the jubilee 2000 we would like to pray for peace in the world, particularly for peace in our motherland Croatia. After the war and still not completely extinguished war passions, it is necessary to implore God for peace in the Croatian society," said Zagreb Archbishop Josip Bozanic, during his sermon at a solemn Mass held on New Year's Day in the Zagreb Cathedral. "Peace for us means the overcoming of one's own arrogance when one is stronger and outnumbers others, because even tomorrow you can happen to be at the other side. Peace for us means the unconditional respect for the expressed will of people. Let us not be misguided with manipulating messages of those who want to disguise petty interests or conceal the truth with big words. Let us follow the example set by Peter of the nowadays who is carrying a torch of the truth," were main messages of the sermon given by the primate in the Catholic Church in Croatia. Speaking of the beginning of this New Year, Bozanic said the counting of years since the birth of Jesus Christ has been spread all over the world. "On this day the civic and church dimensions meet each other in celebrations," he added. For us Christians, the Bethlehem event is a basic measure of the time of human kind, but in its centre is the birth of Jesus. The arrival of Christ is an important event as regards the history of humanity, but it is even more important as regards the salvation of human kind, Archbishop Bozanic said adding that living his life on the earth and then resurrecting Jesus Christ explicitly showed that the aim of man's life is not the death or destruction but that man exists to live. Pointing out that the Church placed the prayer for peace at the very beginning of the new year, Archbishop Bozanic said that in this year of the Great Jubilee the Holy Father has forwarded a special message for today's World Peace Day. Zagreb Archbishop quoted Pope John Paul II as saying that there are numerous and complex problems on the path toward peace, but the pursuit of peace is something deeply rooted in the heart of each man. Therefore efforts to seek peace should not be slackened. That pursuit must be based on the awareness that the humanity, wounded by sin, hatred and violence, has been called by God to be one family. This divine design should be recognised and promoted by attempts to achieve harmonious relations between individuals and peoples in civilisation where the promotion of the human being and protection of the natural environment would be the joint task of everybody, Bozanic added. He said the Pope also spoke of the right to humanitarian assistance, peace and solidarity and the necessity to ponder economy in the current world. These are all imperatives of the new culture of peace which is so necessary for man. The Holy Father told us the peace is an edifice continuously under construction. This construction involves contributions of all: parents, teachers, workers, politicians and particularly the faithful who are sure that the true faith has never been a source of war or violence, Archbishop Bozanic added. The Catholic dignitary also wished a Happy New Year imbued with the peace of Christ. Saturday's Mass was said by Cardinal Franjo Kuharic, Apostolic Nuncio in Croatia Giulio Einaudi, Zagreb Auxiliary Bishops Josip Mrzljak and Vlado Kosic and other dignitaries. (hina) ms