CHURCH PRIMATE PRAYS FOR CROATIA TO OFFER ALL PLACE TO LIVE

GLINA, Sept 30 (Hina) - The primate of the Croatian Catholic Church on Saturday blessed the foundation stone of a church to be built in Glina, a town 60 km south of Zagreb, in place of the old one which Serb rebels razed to the ground during the early 1990s aggression. Blessing the stone, Archbishop of Zagreb Msgr. Josip Bozanic urged the several thousand faithful present to pray "for the safety of all the faithful living in this town and region, of all citizens wishing to live here, whose home and homeland are here." Speaking on behalf of the local population, "who suffered the evil of war... who know what are sacrifice and suffering," Msgr. Bozanic appealed "to all responsible in power and in the media not to direct our life towards the past, not to boringly rummage through the past, but offer security to you who today live for your future." "We would like to hear and read more about economic progress, about new factories and new jobs which will offer security now and direct your life in the future. This is necessary today... and will give man, the believer and the citizen, the possibility to forgive more easily for what he suffered and look more easily into his future," said Msgr. Bozanic. "We pray that this country offer a place to live to all who feel they could continue their life here," the archbishop said. (hina) ha