Pope pleads with Croats to break cycle of hatred

ABOUT 500,000 Croats who assembled at a race-track in Zagreb yesterday heard the Pope urge reconciliation in the Balkans, call on the warring factions 'to seek forgiveness and to forgive' and criticise religious bigotry. The Pope, who looked frail as he conducted the three-hour ceremony, received a rapturous welcome in Croatia, which is proud to be one of the oldest Catholic Slav nations.

At an open-air Mass the Pope told the crowd, which included Croatia's President Franjo Tudjman, the Archbishop of Sarajevo and Muslim leaders, that 'nationalist intolerance . . . cannot be attributed to religion'. For centuries, he said, the area had been a crossroads between east and west and only peace could bring progress. The river Sava, which flows past the altar erected for the occasion, divides Bosnia and Serbia and the Danube divides Serbia from Croatia. 'These two rivers meet in the same way as the different nations they connect are called upon to meet,' the Pope said.

From the altar, he asked: 'Would it not be an intolerable hypocrisy to repeat the Lord's Prayer, while at the same time harbouring feelings of anger and envy or even intentions of violence and revenge?' Such feelings are often expressed in Croatia, where rebellious Serbs hold a third of the country. Croatia suffered terribly from the Serbian assault that followed secession.

But Mr Tudjman has not curbed the extremists who have destroyed 7,000 Serbian homes since the Croatian war ended in 1992. Nor did he stop the Bosnian Croats from attacking Muslims in Bosnia.

The Catholic Church in Croatia has criticised the government over Bosnia. But Mr Tudjman has still made political capital from the Pope's visit. In an address to youth, the Pope warned against worshipping 'vain idols'. He who neglects God, 'can even come to the point of idolising a nation, a race, a party, justifying in their name hatred, discrimination and violence', he said. His speech met with applause from a crowd that included priests, nuns, monks and Croats in traditional dress. The flags waving enthusiastically among the crowd were evenly split: half were the red-white-and-blue of Croatia; the other half the yellow-and- white of the Papacy. It was up to the church in Zagreb, which this year celebrated the 900th anniversary of the diocese, to promote 'forgiveness and reconciliation.'

But even the church in Croatia is reluctant to accept blame. A press pack listed mosques in east Mostar damaged in the Bosnian war, but blamed only the Yugoslav army, and not the Bosnian Croats who shelled east Mostar relentlessly for eight months. No mention was made of collusion by some priests with the fascist Ustashe regime in Croatia in the Second World War, which slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and Croatian left-wingers.

The Pope instead praised the wartime church leader, Archbishop Stepinac, a controversial figure reviled by the Serbs as a war criminal. On Saturday in Zagreb cathedral, he prayed at the tomb of Stepinac, who was imprisoned by the Communists for alleged collaboration. Many believe the archbishop did not do enough to oppose the Nazi puppet government. The Pope hailed him as 'the most illustrious figure' in Croatian Catholic history.

In his final address at Zagreb airport, the Pope blessed Croatia's escape from Communism, and endorsed its secession from Yugoslavia. 'Every nation has the right to political recognition,' he said. The Vatican was the first to recognise Croatia's independence.

The Pope made a daunting request: to forgive the enemy. 'We have to love the enemy,' said Sister Slavica, a nun. But Stipe Zubcic, who lost his wife and his house in the Croatian war, disagreed. 'I cannot forgive. ' he said.' I have 350 bullets in my house. I know who did it. I would never kill a snake, a wolf or a bear, but I would kill a Serb.'

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