PRESIDENT TUDJMAN BIDS FAREWELL TO HOLY FATHER

( Editorial: --> 5719 ) SPLIT, Oct 4 (Hina) - Ahead of Pope John Paul's departure from Croatia, President Tudjman gave a speech on Sunday, bidding farewell to the Holy Father: Holy Father, In taking leave from you at the end of your visit to Croatia, let me thank you for having visited our homeland as the Vicar of Christ and in the Year of the Holy Spirit, and for having brought the Croatian people new messages of hope and forgiveness, peace and community. You have reinforced us in faith, convinced us that we can look with pride to our achievements and build our future with confidence. Along with your prayers and the blessing of the Almighty, your messages will be a bright sign-post in the construction of a healthy society in our free, independent, democratic, and sovereign Homeland. Your elevation of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, martyr and patriot, to the honour of the Altar of the Blessed at the magnificent mass at Marija Bistrica, is the expression of God's love and tribute to his person, but also to the Croatian people, a reward for everything the Croatian people endured together with him in the communist inferno. History has passed judgement in his favour, and this is why this beatification is a stimulus to steadily pursue our road of safeguarding free Croatia in the community of all Croats with the Roman Vicar of Christ. The vital vocation of Stepinac has thus been fulfilled to the glory of God and to the benefit of Croatia, and it will eternally give the Croatian people the strength to withstand even the most severe ordeals. Holy Father, Let me in particular thank you for your words of encouragement and for the messages addressed to the Croatian youth in order to enlighten them with faith and with the guidance of love so that they can avoid the dangers of ephemeral pleasures and vices of civilisational decadence, causing their own suffering, the suffering of their parents and of society as a whole. During the three short days of your visit which will forever be recorded in the history of the relations between Croatia and the Holy See, the Croatian people from all the parts of our homeland and from abroad, including numerous Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina, have demonstrated to you, Holy Father, their deep love and genuine respect. In Zagreb, Marija Bistrica, Split and Solin you had the opportunity to convince yourself of the profoundly sincere and friendly feelings, of the trust in your person and in the Catholic Church. The love professed to you, Holy Father, commits and inspires the State and political leadership, and me personally, to new impulses in the development and maintenance of the already excellent relations with the Holy See and the Church in Croatia, in order to build a Croatian social life based on the principles of Christian civilisation. Your messages pronounced at the Holy Mass at Marija Bistrica and in Split stimulate everybody to a responsible understanding of life, and are a preparation for the great Jubilee, two thousand years of Christianity. This century has given us two global wars and many local and imperialistic wars, exclusive and dangerous nationalistic but also anationalistic and atheist ideologies, immoral manifestations and vices which endanger even the Christian civilisation, new weapons of mass destruction, hunger, poverty and inequality, and threats to the environment. At the same time the world has been enriched by new scientific discoveries and new technologies which can advance humankind, but also jeopardise it. Throughout history Catholicism has always introduced hope into improvement, promoted progress, and advocated the rights and respect of the individual as a person and of peoples as essential components of the human community. We are convinced that the Holy See, the supreme moral authority of the present-day world, will continue to serve, with its far- reaching and reasonable policy, as a true sign-post in the building of future relations in international life. Holy Father, During your pontificate you have been a witness and an active factor of past changes. Karol Woytila, Pope John Paul II, will remain recorded in history in golden letters, as man and Vicar of Christ who has contributed the most to the efforts for peace and the welfare of humankind. In the most crucial moments you wholeheartedly supported the Croats in the achievement of their century-long goal. This is why Christian, free and democratic Croatia once again greets you today as a global and ecclesiastical dignitary, dear guest and friend, who has reinforced in our people the faith, pride and trust in the future by elevating Cardinal and martyr Stepinac to the Altar of the Blessed. Holy Father, Our prayers are addressed to the Almighty, that he may grant many more years at the helm of the Catholic Church, to the benefit of all people, and to the glory of God and peace-loving peoples. Thank you in my own name and on behalf of the entire Croatian people. (The above is an unofficial translation) (hina) lml jn 042146 MET oct 98