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PRESS CUT - Croatian Press News in English	
04.10.1998.

SPECIAL SERVICE MARKING THE VISIT OF THE HOLY FATHER, POPE JOHN PAUL II, TO
CROATIA


IN TODAYS SERVICE:
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October 4, 1998
1. THE ARCHBISHOP'S ADDRESS AT THE ZNJAN
2. POPE'S SPEECH AT ZNJAN
3. ANGELUS AT ZNJAN

October 3, 1998
4. POPES SPEECH REPRESENTATIVES OF A CULTURAL LIFE

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Everything you want to know about Papal visit to Croatia:
http://www.papa.hr (Croatian)
	http://www.pope.hr (English)	

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1. THE ARCHBISHOP'S ADDRESS AT THE ZNJAN

Holy Father!

This corner of Croatian land awaits your Holiness with gratitude and filial
love. It awaits you as the messenger of the Gospel, the messenger of peace
and hope for all nations.

This Church of Split and Makarska and the entire Church amongst Croats
awaits you with an open heart so that she may hear your words of faith, and
that she will be strengthened in your union with the one holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church, so that praying together with you she can in union with
you break the Bread of life and the Cup of eternal salvation.

I have eagerly awaited for this day to arrive when we could together with
you celebrate the Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice on this soil, which is for us
holy, tear soaked and drenched with the blood of martyrs, right up until
the time of St. Domnius the bishop and the rest of the martyrs of Solin.
Those martyrs also from the time of the Turks, whose names are known only
to God, to those from our times, amongst whom the blessed martyr Alojzije
Stepinac has a special place. I say from our times because many in the
Second World War and after it and during Communist rule were victims of
hate towards the faith. From this Archdiocese alone 62 priests and
religious brothers lost their lives whilst a majority of the faithful
suffered great injustices, violence and hatred. Many people also lost not
only their property but also their own lives.

I greet you in the name of all of my fellow brother bishops, priests,
religious brothers and sisters and the entire People of God gathered around
you here today in this city which is celebrating 17 centuries of existence
and which is the successor of the city of Salonae, now Solin. In their long
histories neither Split, nor Salonae or Solin have had this kind of good
fortune, that is, to receive as their dearest guest the Roman bishop and
Peter's successor.

The links of our people and especially this region, with the Holy See were
established from the first years of migration of our ancestors to these
beautiful regions from White Croatia, which is today your place of birth.
Your predecessor John IV sent the abbot Martin to collect the reliquaries
of the holy Solinian and Istrian martyrs whose images and names are
preserved in the mosaic in the chapel of St. Venancius in the Lateran in Rome.

Pope Agathon and especially Pope John VIII, maintained links, received
delegations, confirmed our rulers and sent their blessings to our rulers
and people. Your predecessor the Pope of the renewal Gregory VII crowned
not far from here, in Solin, our king of holy reminiscence, Zvonimir.

The successors of Peter have supported, consoled and helped us, during all
of the difficult centuries of our struggle for the survival and
perservation of our faith. We have especially felt this in your person
during the course of the recent war and in this post war period. That is
how we experience this, your pastoral visit. It is for our people a sign of
support and protection.

Holy Father, we thank you from the heart for all of the things you have
done for us, for all of the love which you have witnessed to us. We
especially thank you for this visit in which you wanted to grant our often
repeated requests to you to paternally visit us.

I also wish to thank you, here in Split, on the Croatian coast of the
Adriatic and to confirm our all encompasing gratitude for the raising up on
the oltar of our glory and pride, the symbol of our people's faithfulness
to the Church, Alojzije Stepinac, who was the Archbishop of Zagreb during a
very difficult period. We justifiably hope that in the near future other
candidates from our nation will be raised up to the honour of the altar.

In beginning this Holy Sacrifice, place upon the paten along side Jesus'
sacrifice all of our sacrifices and prayers and especially a very important
prayer: That we remain stauch in our faith and faithfulness to Christ, His
Church and His successor on earth, Peter's successor in Rome.

***

2. POPE'S SPEECH AT ZNJAN

1. "We are unworthy servants" (Lk 17:10).

These words of Christ surely kept echoing in the hearts of the Apostles
when, obedient to his command, they set out on the highways of the world in
order to proclaim the Gospel. They travelled from one city to another, from
one region to the next, spending themselves in the service of the Kingdom
and always taking to heart the admonition of Jesus: "When you have done all
that is commanded you, say: We are unworthy servants; we have done only
what was our duty" (Lk 17:10).

The Apostles handed on this same realization to their disciples, including
those who first crossed the Adriatic Sea and brought the Gospel to Roman
Dalmatia, to the people who then dwelt along this beautiful coast and in
the other, no less beautiful, lands reaching as far as Pannonia. The faith
thus began to spread among your ancestors, who in turn handed it down to
you. This has been a long historical process, which goes back to the time
of Saint Paul and which had a forceful new beginning in the seventh
century, with the arrival of the Croatian people.

Today we want to thank the Most Holy Trinity for the Baptism received by
your ancestors. Christianity arrived here from the East and from Italy,
from Rome, and it shaped your national tradition. Remembering this evokes a
lively and deep sense of gratitude to Divine Providence for this two-fold
gift: first and foremost, the gift of your call to faith, and then the gift
of the fruits which that faith has borne in your culture and your way of life.

Along the Croatian coast, down the centuries, there arose wonderful
architectural masterpieces, which inspired awe in countless people in every
age. Everyone could enjoy this splendid heritage, standing out amid the
lovely countryside. Tragically, as a result of war, many of these treasures
have been destroyed or damaged. The eye of man can no longer rejoice in
them. How can we not feel regret for this?

2. "We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty". Jesus
words raise questions which cannot be avoided: have we really done what was
our duty? And what must we do now? What tasks lie before us? What resources
and what forces do we have at hand? The questions are complex and so the
answer to them must be carefully thought through. Today we ask these
questions as Christians, as followers of Christ, and with this awareness we
read the page of Saint Pauls Letter to Timothy. There the Apostle, listing
some of the disciples, also mentions the name of Titus, recalling his
mission in Dalmatia. Titus was thus one of the first evangelizers of these
lands, singular evidence of the Apostles concern that the Gospel should be
brought here.

In the words of the aged Paul, we hear an echo of the apostolic concern
which marked his whole life. Now, at the moment when he must depart from
this life (cf. 2 Tim 4:6), he writes to his disciple: "I have fought the
good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim 4:7).
This is both a testimony and a testament. In this context, Pauls final
words take on greater significance: "The Lord stood by me and gave me
strength to proclaim the message fully, that all the Gentiles might hear
it" (2 Tim 4:17).
Those who today, at the end of the Second Millennium, must continue the
work of evangelization can draw light and strength from these words. In
this work, at once divine and human, we need to call upon the power of the
Lord. On the threshold of the new Millennium, we rightly speak of the need
for a new evangelization: new in method, but always the same with regard to
the truths it proclaims. The new evangelization is an immense task:
universal in its content and destination, it must take on new and diverse
forms, adapting to the needs of different places. How can we not sense the
need of Gods help to sustain our weakness and limitations?

Let us pray that the Church in your Catholic nation will be able to see
clearly, with Gods help, the challenges and tasks associated with the new
evangelization and rightly direct all her efforts, "tertio millennio
adveniente".

3. I thank the Metropolitan Archbishop, Ante Juri_, for the words of
welcome which he addressed to me at the start of this Eucharistic
celebration, in your name and in the name of all the people of good will in
this beloved land of Croatia.

I greet the Bishops of the ecclesiastical Province of Split-Makarska and
all the other Bishops of Croatia, particularly Cardinal Franjo Kuhari_. I
also welcome with gratitude the Pastors of the Church in nearby
Bosnia-Hercegovina: the Archbishop of Sarajevo, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, with
his Auxiliary, Bishop Pero Sudar; the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno and Apostolic
Administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan, Bishop Ratko Peric, and the Bishop of
Banja Luka, Franjo Komarica. I likewise greet all the other Bishops present.
Finally, I greet the President of the Republic, the Head of Government and
the civil and military authorities, who have wished to be present here with
us.

4. Dear friends, Split and Solin make up the second and final stage of my
Pastoral Visit to Croatia. These two places have a very special
significance in the growth of Christianity in this region - from Roman
times and, later, Croatian times - and they evoke a long and wonderful
history of faith from the time of the Apostles until our own days.

"If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed..." (Lk 17:6), Jesus said just
now in the Gospel reading. Gods grace has made that grain of faith sprout
and grow to become a great tree, rich in fruits of holiness. Even at the
harshest moments of your history, there have always been men and women who
have kept repeating: "The Catholic faith is my vocation" (the Servant of
God Ivan Merz, in Positio super vita, virtutibus et fama sanctitatis, Rome,
1998, p. 477); men and women who have made the faith their programme of
life. So it was for the martyr Domnius in Roman times, so it was also for
the many martyrs during the Turkish occupation, up to the Blessed martyr
Alojzije Stepinac in our own time.

The decision of your forefathers to accept the Catholic faith, the faith
proclaimed and professed by the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, has played a
central role in the religious and civil history of your Nation. "This was
an event of capital importance for the Croats, because from that moment on
they accepted with alacrity the Gospel of Christ as it was disseminated and
taught in Rome. The Catholic faith has permeated the national life of the
Croats": so wrote your Bishops (Pastoral Letter, 16 March 1939) in
preparation for the Jubilee of the evangelization of the Croats, planned
for 1941 and then postponed because of events which overwhelmed your
country, Europe and the entire world.

5. This is a heritage which makes demands of you. In the Letter I wrote for
the Year of Branimir, one of the stages of the celebration of the Jubilee
of the Baptism of your People, I told you: "By your perseverance you have
entered into a sort of pact with Christ and his Church: you must remain
faithful to this pact, all the more so when the times are in contrast with
it. Remain always as you were in that glorious year of 879" (15 May 1979).
Today I repeat these words to you, in the new social and political climate
which has emerged in your country.

The Lord has not failed to enlighten your days with hope (cf. Eph 1:17-18),
and now, with the coming of freedom and democracy, it is legitimate to
expect a new springtime of faith in this land of Croatia. The Church is now
able to employ many means of evangelization and can approach all sectors of
society. This is a promising moment which Providence is offering to this
generation in order to proclaim the Gospel and bear witness to Christ
Jesus, the one Saviour of the world, and thus to contribute to the building
of a society worthy of man.

Concretely, the Christians of Croatia are today called to give a new face
to their country to the renewal in society of the ethical and moral values
undermined by , above all by committing themselves past totalitarianism and
by the recent violence of war. This is a task which calls for the
expenditure of much energy and a firm and persevering will. It is values
there can be no true freedom or true democracy. Fundamental an urgent task,
for without among these values is respect for human life, for the rights
and dignity of the person, as well as for the rights and dignity of peoples.

The Christian knows that he has a very specific responsibility, together
with his fellow-citizens, for the destiny of his own country and for the
promotion of the common good. Faith is always a commitment to the service
of others, of ones fellow-citizens, considered as brothers and sisters.
And there can be no effective witness without a deeply-lived faith, without
a life anchored in the Gospel and imbued with love for God and for
neighbour, following the example of Jesus Christ. For the Christian, to
bear witness means to reveal to others the marvels of Gods love, working
in union with ones brothers and sisters to build that Kingdom of which the
Church is "on earth, the seed and first growth" (Lumen Gentium, 5).
6. "If you had faith...". "We are unworthy servants...". Faith does not
seek the extraordinary, but strives to be useful by serving our brothers
and sisters in the light of the Kingdom. Its grandeur lies in humility: "We
are unworthy servants...". A humble faith is an authentic faith. And an
authentic faith, even if it is as small "as a grain of mustard seed", can
make extraordinary things happen.

How many times has this happened in this land! May the future prove once
more the truth of these words of the Lord, so that the Gospel may continue
to bear abundant fruits of holiness among generations yet to come.

May the Lord of history accept the petitions which rise up today from this
land of Croatia. May he hear the prayer of all those who profess the holy
Name of God and ask to persevere in fidelity to the great baptismal
Covenant of their forefathers.

Sustained by faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, may this
people build its future on its ancient Christian roots, dating to the time
of the Apostles!
Praised be Jesus and Mary!

***

3. ANGELUS AT ZNJAN
OCTOBER, 4 1998

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. At the end of this Eucharistic celebration, our thoughts go to the
Blessed Mother of God, invoked and venerated in Shrines great and small
dedicated to her in many places in this land of Croatia. We turn to her
with the words spoken by the Angel when he brought her the joyful message
of salvation, prepared by God for humanity.

After yesterdays pilgrimage to Marija Bistrica, this afternoon I shall
visit the Shrine of Our Lady of the Isle at Solin, the age-old witness to
the faith of your people.

2. In the light which radiates from the gentle face of Mary, I extend a
special greeting to the dear people of Split who are celebrating the
seventeen hundred years of their city. I also greet the faithful of the
ecclesiastical province of Split-Makarska, and all the other faithful
people who are united through their Pastors with this Mass.

I am particularly close to those who still today are anxiously awaiting
definite news of the fate of their dear ones who disappeared during the
recent war. I am likewise close to those who were driven from their homes
by the violence of war and have still not been able to return, or if they
have returned, need help to complete the work of rebuilding their homes in
order to resume peaceful family life.

And how could we not recall with anxious concern the continuing tragedy
taking place in the nearby region of Kosovo? May understanding, mutual
respect, forgiveness and reconciliation at last take the place of violence
and destruction. For this objective to be achieved, may the international
community, with a great sense of solidarity, not fail to provide its timely
help.

3. We entrust these hopes to the intercession of the Blessed Mother of God,
invoking her protection on your families, the sick and the elderly, on all
those suffering from the consequences of the recent conflict, on your
villages and on your towns.

We pray to the Blessed Virgin for the whole of South East Europe, that the
people who live there, finally reconciled with one another, may know peace
and may share, with equal rights and duties, in the life of the great human
family.

***

4. POPES SPEECH REPRESENTATIVES OF A CULTURAL LIFE

OCTOBER 3, 1998
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Brothers and Sisters!
1. I am happy to have this opportunity to greet you most cordially and
respectfully. At this moment, my thoughts go too to your colleagues who in
every part of the country are engaged in the noble toil of searching for
the truth in the various fields of knowledge. I warmly greet all of them.

In the program of my Pastoral Visit to your country, I wanted this brief
but, for me, most important meeting with you who represent the world of
culture and learning. In this way I can reaffirm the respect and
appreciation which the Church has for intellectual effort as an expression
of the human spirits creativity. I gladly take this opportunity to pay
homage to Croatias rich cultural tradition, testimony of the Nations
ancient and profound sense of the good, the true and the beautiful.

I avail myself of this occasion to reflect with you on the specific
contribution which Christians, as men and women of culture and learning,
are called to make to the further growth of a true humanism in your Nation,
as part of the great family of peoples. The task of the Christian in fact
is to spread the light of the Gospel throughout society, and hence also in
the world of culture.

Through the centuries, Christianity has made an important contribution to
the formation of the cultural heritage of the Croatian people. On the
threshold of the Third Millennium, therefore, there should be no lack of
new and vital energies, ready to give fresh impulse to the promotion and
development of the cultural heritage of the Nation, in full fidelity to its
Christian roots.

2. Like Europe and the rest of the world, Croatia is passing through a time
of great change, a time of exciting perspectives but also of significant
problems. It is necessary to respond appropriately to these changes, with a
response that comes from a reflection upon the profound truth of man and
from the respect due to the moral values which are part of human nature.

In fact, there is no true progress without respect for the ethical
dimension of culture, of scholarly research and of all human activity.
Todays ethical relativism, obscuring as it does moral values, leads to
modes of behavior which destroy the dignity of the person. This in turn
creates serious problems for truly human development in every aspect of life.

It is also clear that the good of the person, which is the ultimate goal of
every cultural and scholarly enterprise, can never be sundered from
consideration of the common good. In this regard, I recall the inscription
found in the Great Council Hall in Dubrovnik: "Obliti privatorum, publica
curate". It is my hope that the commitment of thinkers and scholars,
inspired by true values, will always be seen as a generous and
disinterested service of the human person and of society. It must never be
bent to serve ends contrary to this supreme goal.

3. Since culture has as its ultimate objective the service of the true good
of the person, it is not surprising that, in seeking cultural progress,
society finds the Church at its side. The Church too directs her pastoral
care towards "the entire reality of the individual person, in the unity of
body and soul, heart and conscience, intellect and will" (Gaudium et Spes,
3). The service of the human person is the meeting-point between the Church
and the world of learning and culture.

Down the course of the centuries, this meeting has proven to be singularly
fruitful. With its treasury of luminous truths about the various aspects of
life, the Gospel has very significantly enriched the answers devised by
reason, ensuring that they match more exactly the deepest expectations of
the human heart.
Despite the misunderstandings which have arisen at different times, the
Church has always been very sensitive to the values of culture and
scholarly research. This is what we see in your own history: when in the
seventh century your ancestors were baptized and entered the Church, they
became at the same time part of the world of Western culture. From then
onwards, Croatia experienced constant progress in the field of culture and
learning, a progress to which the Church gave decisive support. The
contribution which the Church has made to philosophy, literature, music,
theatre, science, art is universally recognized, as is the merit she
warrants for building schools of every kind: from primary schools to great
centres of university learning. The Church intends to pursue this policy in
the future, since she considers it an integral part of her service of the
Gospel message.

In this region, where different world-views have mingled for centuries,
there is need of a continuing common commitment in favor of culture,
without indulging in sterile contrasts, but affirming instead attitudes of
respect and conciliation. This does not mean a renunciation of ones own
identity and culture. The roots, the heritage and the identity of each
people, in which there is something genuinely human, represent a great
resource for the international community.

4. The climate of freedom and democracy which emerged in Croatia at the
start of this decade permits the re-establishment of faculties of theology
in Croatian universities. This will greatly contribute to the promotion of
dialogue between culture, scholarship and faith. Universities are the
privileged place for a dialogue which can work for the good of the new
generation, giving young people direction in their moral choices and their
active participation in society. May your schools, and above all your
universities, be true power-houses of thought, so that they can train men
and women to excel in the various fields of learning, but also prepare
people deeply aware of the great mission entrusted to them: that of serving
the human person.

One result of the dynamic link between faith and reason will surely be the
moral and spiritual re-birth of your country, which for many years was
subjected to the devastations of atheistic materialism. This new
flourishing of values will be the strongest bastion against todays
challenges of consumerism and hedonism. Thus, on a sound basis of values,
the human person, the family and society as a whole will be able to develop
in accordance with the truth, experiencing joy and hope, with a gaze that
is turned to the eternal destiny which God has prepared for every human
being. Thus will be avoided in the future the drama of the separation
between culture and the Gospel, which has so troubled our age (cf. Paul VI,
Evangelii Nuntiandi, 20).

A culture which rejects God cannot be considered fully human, because it
excludes from its vision the One who has created man in his own image and
likeness, has redeemed him through the work of Christ, and has consecrated
him with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This is why the human person,
and every aspect of the person, must be the focus of culture in all its
forms and the reference-point of every scholarly endeavor.

5. God has given you as a heritage a splendid country, whose National
Anthem begins with the words: "Our beautiful homeland". The duty to respect
nature is unmistakable here, the duty to act with a sense of responsibility
for the life-giving resources which Providence has given to humanity. The
world is the stage on which each of us is called to play our part to the
praise and glory of God the Creator and Savior.
Thirsting for true wisdom, for knowledge of the universe and of the laws
which regulate it, fascinated by the true, the good and the beautiful, seek
to explore the Supreme Source of all: God, the origin of every truth, who
wisely sustains and governs all that exists! May the Word of God illumine
your exploration of the paths which lead to the truth. Nurturing a deep
love for truth, you will become in your daily undertakings passionate
enquirers and ready collaborators of all who are searching for the truth.

6. A special word finally to the men and women of learning and culture who
are professing Christians: to them is entrusted the task of ceaselessly
evangelizing the world in which they work. Their hearts therefore must be
open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, that "Spirit of truth" who
guides us "to the fullness of truth" (cf. Jn 16:13).

This lofty task requires constant study of all that is involved in our
attachment in faith to Christ, "the true light who enlightens all people"
(Jn 1:9), "the power and wisdom of God" (1 Cor1:24). For "all things were
created through him and for him; he is before all things and in him all
things hold together" (Col 1:16-17). May each of you assume this lofty task
with pride and make every effort to fulfill it with all generosity.
To the protection of the Holy Mother of God, whom the Church invokes as
Seat of Wisdom, I entrust all those who search for the truth with sincerity
of heart, and upon all of you I invoke the blessings of God.

>From Zagreb, 3 October 1998, the twentieth of my Pontificate

IOANNES PAULUS PP. II

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