ZAGREB ARCHBISHOP'S ADDRESS TO THE HOLY FATHER

( Editorial: --> 5267 ) MARIJA BISTRICA, Oct 3 (Hina) - At the beginning of today's Holy Mass to beatify Zagreb Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac at Marija Bistrica (near Zagreb), Zagreb Archbishop and President of the Croatian Bishops' Conference, Msgr. Josip Bozanic greeted Pope John Paul II on behalf of all the faithful and people of good will. Holy Father! At this solemn and holy moment, there are three brief sentences in which I should like to summarise all the thoughts and desires, all the joy and happiness that we experience during your second visit to Croatia, particularly the Church in our beautiful Homeland and wherever Catholic Croats live. We greet you. We thank you. We congratulate you. Holy Father, We, all the faithful and people of good will throughout our Homeland, greet you through my voice. We, all the participants in this magnificent celebration, attended by high officials of the Croatian Government, headed by the President of the Republic, greet you. We, the cardinals and bishops, guests attending from around the entire world, greet you. We, the Croatian Catholic Episcopate with our two eminent cardinals, Franjo Kuharic and Vinko Puljic, especially greet your. We, priests, deacons, monks, nuns and all the faithful of Jesus present here, greet you. Blessed re you, Holy Father, who comes to us in the name of the Lord! We thank you because "in concern for all the Churches" (cf. 2 Cor 11:28), you express your fatherly concern and love toward our Church and our Homeland. We thank you because during your second apostolic visit, you are linking two great centres of Croatian, Church and state history - Zagreb and Split, thereby pointing out the need and goal of Church unity and state unity. At the same time, you particularly direct our attention - via the holy martyr St. Domnius, the founder of the Church in Split - to the ancient Christian roots upon which Croatian Christianity was grafted in the 7th century. You also point out a contemporary martyr and witness to the faith and fidelity to Christ and his Church, the archbishop of Zagreb and Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Alojzije Stepinac. Thank you, Holy Father, especially for this great gift, our newly beatified model whose legacy compels us to be faithful to the Catholic Church unto the grave. Thank you, for coming here, to our beloved Croatian national shrine of Our Lady of Bistrica, in order to guide our gaze to Her, the Star of the new evangelisation, who is so dear to your heart. Your have come there to perform the beatification our Servant of God, an act of your supreme apostolic authority, on precisely October 3, the date when the innocent Alojzije Stepinac presented his famous testimony before the communist court in 1946. It was not a speech in his defence. It was a confession of faith in the holy things for which he lived, the holy things which he defended and the holy things for which he was prepared, with a clear conscience, to die at any moment. These were God, Jesus Christ - a true God and a true man, the honour of the Most Holy Mother of God, the Church, the sanctity of marriage, the right of young people to sound religious instruction, and the fundamental rights that every person has according to God. On this anniversary, October 3, you wish to call these holy things to mind among us all, the entire Church in Croatia and the entire Croatian nation, the entire Catholic Church and all people of good will. Thank you! Finally, Holy Father, we congratulate you. In several days, on October 16, the Feast of St. Hedwig, the Polish queen, you will complete a full twenty years of your blessed pontificate. Thus, you will enter the ranks of the bishops of Rome to whom Divine providence has granted the longest apostolic service to the Church and mankind. Blessed be God for this gift to you and to us! While we congratulate you, Holy Father, for this gift of God, we address our prayers to the Almighty God: May God grant you a long life, keep you in his service and make it possible for you, like John the Baptist, to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus Christ in his third millennium. Today, at this very solemn moment, your first teaching, which you addressed to all people during your first Eucharistic Celebration on October 22, 1978, reverberates in our souls and hearts in an entirely new and encouraging manner: "Do not be afraid to embrace Christ, accept His authority! (...) Do not be afraid! Open the door wide for Christ! Open the borders of the states, economic and political systems, the road field of culture, civilisation and development to his redemptive authority. Do not be afraid! Christ knows what is in a person, only He knows! (...) Let Christ speak to man. Only He has the words of life, yes, eternal life!" On this unique day in Croatian holy history - by the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin Mother of God and his servant Alojzije - in a new and powerful way, through a gift of the Holy Spirit, may this come about in all of us! Holy Father, teach us this again and sustain us with your apostolic blessing! (Hina) sp 031135 MET oct 98