Bosnia’s Catholic Archbishop, Vinko Puljic, said in his Easter reception speech on Monday that the political quarrels in the country are making people desperate and that they are driving many out of the country.
“Our belief and hope are based on Christ’s resurrection. That is why I wish, not only for us believers but for all people, that the religious celebration strengthens people’s hope and enables them to be more humane, the most humane among humans,” the Cardinal said.
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“I am mentioning this because, as a son of this country, I am truly worried about the dark clouds of hopelessness which are pressuring many people and making them so desperate that they want to take their own lives,” Puljic said.
As every year, ‘egg cracking’ was part of the Cardinal’s Easter ceremony.
Nadbiskup vrhbosanski kardinal Vinko Puljić organizovao je danas u Sarajevu tradicionalni uskršnji prijem. pic.twitter.com/E0qqq2DmHC
— TV N1 Sarajevo (@N1infoSA) April 22, 2019
Among those who attended it were the Croat and Bosniak members of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency, Zeljko Komsic and Sefik Dzaferovic, respectively. Fadil Novalic, the Prime Minister of the Federation (FBiH), the Bosniak-Croat semi-autonomous entity in the country, also attended, as did a number of lawmakers.
Dragan Covic, the leader of the strongest Croat party in Bosnia, the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) was absent, as was the Bosnian Serb member of the tripartite Presidency, Milorad Dodik.
“How is one not to be worried about people leaving our beautiful and beloved land?” the Cardinal asked.
“But people are bored with this haggling in political life and they have no chance to live a decent life,” he explained.
So many people in Bosnia declare themselves as believers, “yet that faith is being rejected on every step by breaches the most basic of God’s commandments, so a lot of immorality, crime and corruption has been dragged into (society),” he said.
The Cardinal said there cannot be truth and justice without trust, and until “everything is being called out for what it is,” such as war crimes, “it is difficult to bring back trust.”
“All who justify a crime or deny it become collaborators in it,” he said.
“The right to personal honour, freedom and human and citizen’s rights is not given, but built into society. The right to work is not given but conditions for that right to be fulfilled are created. The right to private property, that is something that the state does not give, but respects and ensures. The right to religious, cultural and national identity is not given by the political party nor the state, but they ensure those rights are met,” he said.
“This country needs to be loved and built so that everyone feels safe and at home in it. In that spirit, I wish that such gatherings create a climate in which celebration becomes a part of life,” he concluded.
Speaking to N1 later, the Cardinal said that people in Bosnia feel like their leaders are “competing in who is going to scare them more.”
“That is an unhealthy atmosphere, we need to cure it. With whatever means we can,” he said.
