Stadler, the first archbishop of Sarajevo. A priest, a Franciscan friar and a   
   nun then spoke about the suffering and persecutions they had experienced during   
   the war in the Balkans.   
    The Pope, moved by their words, set aside the discourse he had prepared -   
   extensive extracts of which we publish below - and addressed some off-the-cuff   
   comments to them. "These accounts speak for themselves", he said. "And this is   
   the memory of your people! A people that forgets the past has no future. This   
   is   
   the memory of your fathers and mothers in the faith: only three people have   
   spoken, but behind them there are many, many others who suffered the same   
   things".   
    "Dear sisters, dear brothers, you do not have the right to forget your own   
   history. Not for the purpose of revenge, but rather to make peace. Not to look   
   at these testimonies as something odd, but through them to love as they have   
   loved. In your blood, in your vocation, there is the vocation and the blood of   
   these three martyrs. And it is the blood and the vocation of many religious   
   women and men, many priests, many seminarians. ... Keeping memory alive so as   
   to   
   make peace. Some words struck my heart. One of them, repeated, 'forgiveness'. A   
   man, a woman who is consecrated to the Lord's service who does not know how to   
   forgive, is not helpful. To forgive a friend who swore at you, or someone with   
   whom you have argued, or a sister who is jealous of you, this is not all that   
   difficult. But to forgive the one who slaps you in the face, who tortures you,   
   who abuses you, who threatens to shoot you ... this is difficult. And these   
   three   
   have done it, and they teach others to do it".   
    "You are blessed who have such witnesses so close to you: do not forget them,   
   please. Your life will grow with this memory. ... Finally, I wish to say to you   
   that this has been a story of cruelty. Even today, in this world war we see   
   many, many, many acts of cruelty. Do always the opposite of cruelty: have an   
   attitude of tenderness, of brotherhood, of forgiveness. And carry the Cross of   
   Jesus Christ. The Church, holy Mother Church, wants it this way: small, tiny   
   martyrdoms, before these small martyrs, these small witnesses to the Cross of   
   Jesus".   
    The following is the address Pope Francis had prepared:   
    "I come to your land as a pilgrim of peace and dialogue, to strengthen and to   
   encourage my brothers and sisters in the faith, and in particular you, who are   
   called to work 'full time' in the vineyard of the Lord. He says to us, 'I am   
   with you always, to the close of the age'. This certainty fills us with   
   consolation and hope, especially when your ministry experiences difficulties. I   
   think of the sufferings and trials both past and present in your Christian   
   communities. Although you have lived through these circumstances, you did not   
   halt, you endured, and worked hard to confront personal, social and pastoral   
   challenges with a tireless spirit of service. May the Lord bless your efforts.   
    "I can imagine that the Catholic Church's being numerically a minority in your   
   country, coupled with the failures that sometime occur in ministry, may at   
   times   
   make you feel like Jesus' disciples when, although having toiled all night   
   long,   
   they caught no fish. However, it is precisely in these moments, if we entrust   
   ourselves to the Lord, that we experience the power of His word, the strength   
   of   
   His Spirit, which renews trust and hope in us. The fruitfulness of our service   
   depends above all on faith: faith in Christ's love, from which, as St. Paul   
   reminds us, and which he know from experience, nothing can separate us!   
   Fraternity within our communities also sustains and strengthens us: fraternity   
   among priests, among men and women religious, among consecrated lay persons,   
   among seminarians. In fact, fraternity among all of us, whom the Lord has   
   called   
   to leave everything so as to follow Him, gives us joy and consolation, and   
   renders our work ever more fruitful. We are witnesses to fraternity!   
    "'Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock'. With these words - recorded   
   in   
   the Acts of the Apostles - St. Paul reminds us that if we want to help others   
   become holy we cannot neglect ourselves, that is, neglect our own   
   sanctification. And vice versa: dedication to God's faithful people, being   
   close   
   to them in their lives, especially to the poor and the needy, helps us be   
   conformed ever more to Christ. Attention to one's own sanctification and   
   pastoral charity towards people are two sides of the same coin and are mutually   
   enriching. They must never be separated.   
    "What does it mean, today, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for a priest or   
   consecrated person to serve the Lord's flock?", asked the Holy Father. "I think   
   it means to carry out a pastoral ministry of hope, caring for the sheep that   
   are   
   in the sheepfold, but also going out in search of those who await the Good News   
   and who do not know where to find it, or who on their own cannot find their way   
   to Jesus. It means to meet the people where they live, including those sheep   
   who   
   are outside the sheepfold, far away, who may not yet have heard of Jesus   
   Christ.   
   It means taking care of the formation of Catholics in their faith and in their   
   Christian lives. Encouraging the lay faithful to be protagonists in the   
   evangelising mission of the Church. For this reason, I exhort you to develop   
   Catholic communities open and 'going forth', able to welcome and to encounter,   
   and to be courageous in their evangelical witness.   
    "The priest, the consecrated person, is called to live the anguish and the   
   hope   
   of the people; to work in concrete circumstances often characterised by   
   tensions, discord, suspicions, insecurities and poverty. Faced with these   
   painful situations, we ask God to grant us hearts that can be moved, capable of   
   showing empathy; there is no greater witness than to be close to the spiritual   
   and material needs of the faithful. It is the task of us bishops, priests and   
   religious to make the people feel the nearness of God; to feel His comforting   
   and healing hand; to be familiar with the wounds and tears of our people; to   
   never tire of opening our hearts and offering a hand to all who ask us for   
   help,   
   and to all those who, perhaps because they feel ashamed, do not ask our help,   
   but who are in great need of it. In this regard, I wish to express my deep   
   appreciation to religious sisters for everything they do with such generosity,   
   and above all for their faithful and dedicated presence.   
    "Dear priests, dear men and women religious, I encourage you to carry out   
   joyfully your pastoral ministry whose effectiveness is the fruit of faith and   
   grace, but also the fruit of a humble life, one detached from worldly concerns.   
   Please, do not fall into the temptation of becoming a self-absorbed elite. The   
   generous and transparent witness of priestly and religious life sets an example   
   and gives encouragement to seminarians and to all those whom the Lord calls to   
   serve Him. Standing by the side of young men and women, inviting them to share   
   experiences of service and prayer, you will help them to discover the love of   
   Christ and to open themselves up to the call of the Lord. May the People of God   
   see in you that faithful and generous love which Christ has left to His   
   disciples as a legacy.   
    "I wish also to offer a word to you, dear seminarians. Among the many   
   beautiful   
   examples of priests and consecrated men in your country, we remember in   
   particular the Servant of God Petar Barbaric. His example unites Herzegovina,   
   where he was born, to Bosnia, where he made his religious profession, as he   
   also   
   unites all priests, diocesan or religious. May this young candidate for the   
   priesthood, whose life was so full of virtue, be a powerful example to each one   
   of you.   
    The Virgin Mary is always near us, as a caring mother. She is the first   
   disciple of the Lord, the first example of a life dedicated to him and to his   
   brothers. When we find ourselves in difficulty, or when faced with a situation   
   that makes us feel the depth of our powerlessness, let us turn to her with   
   childlike trust. Then she always says to us - as at the wedding at Cana - 'Do   
   whatever he tells you'. She teaches us to listen to Jesus and to follow His   
   word, but to do so with faith! This is her secret, which as a mother, she   
   wishes   
   to transmit to us: faith, a genuine faith, enough so that even a grain of it   
   can   
   move mountains!   
    "By abandoning ourselves in trust, we can serve the Lord with joy, sowing hope   
   everywhere. I assure you of remembrance in my prayers and I bless each of you   
   and your communities. I ask you please, do not forget to pray for me",   
   concluded   
   Francis, before imparting his final blessing.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Ecumenical and interreligious meeting: dialogue cannot be confined to the   
   leaders of religious communities   
    Vatican City, 6 June 2015 (VIS) - "Today's meeting is a sign of our shared   
   desire for fraternity and peace; it is a testimony to the friendship and   
   cooperation that has been developing over the years and which you already   
   experience daily. To be present here today is already a 'message' of that   
   dialogue which everyone seeks and strives for", said Pope Francis to the   
   participants in the ecumenical and interreligious meeting held in the   
   Franciscan   
   international study centre of Sarajevo.   
    The leaders of the Muslim, Orthodox, Catholic and Jewish communities of Bosnia   
   and Herzegovina greeted the Holy Father, who recalled one of the fruits of this   
   desire for encounter and reconciliation - the establishment in 1997 of a local   
   Council for Interreligious Dialogue, bringing together Muslims, Christians and   
   Jews - and congratulated them on their work in promoting dialogue, coordinating   
   common initiatives and developing relations with State authorities. "Your work   
   in this region is immensely important, particularly in Sarajevo, which stands   
   as   
   the crossroads of peoples and cultures", he said. "Here, on the one hand,   
   diversity constitutes a great resource which has contributed to the social,   
   cultural and spiritual development of this region, while, on the other, it has   
   also been the cause of painful rifts and bloody wars. It is not by chance that   
   the birth of the Council for Interreligious Dialogue and other valuable   
   initiatives in the area of interreligious and ecumenical work came about at the   
   end of the war, in response to the need for reconciliation and rebuilding a   
   society torn apart by conflict. Interreligious dialogue here, as in every part   
   of the world, is an indispensable condition for peace, and for this reason is a   
   duty for all believers".   
    Francis underlined that interreligious dialogue, before being a discussion of   
   the main themes of faith, is a "conversation about human existence". "This   
   conversation shares the experiences of daily life in all its concreteness, with   
   its joys and sufferings, its struggles and hopes; it takes on shared   
   responsibilities; it plans a better future for all. We learn to live together,   
   respecting each other's differences freely; we know and accept one another's   
   identity. Through dialogue, a spirit of fraternity is recognised and developed,   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)