Greetings at the beginning of the 92nd Regular Session of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Welcome speech by the President of the Bishops' Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Archbishop Tomo Vukšić, Mostar, March 20th.

GREETINGS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SESSION

92nd Regular Session of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mostar, March 20, 2025

At the beginning of the 92nd Regular Session of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I cordially greet all the brothers, members of our Conference: Vice-President and our host, the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno and the Apostolic Administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan, Mons. Petar Palić, and to him and to his associates, I thank for all the services and hospitality, the Bishop of Banja Luka, Mons. Željko Majić and the Apostolic Visitor of Medjugorje, Mons. Aldo Cavilli.

Greetings and thanks also to the Secretary General, Rev. Bojan Ivešić and his associates in the Secretariat, who once again prepared everything so that the session can go well.

I.

With us is the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Mons. Francis Chullikatt, to whom I also extend a warm welcome, and we ask him to convey our greetings and prayers to the Holy Father Pope Francis at this time of serious health problems.

A fraternal and cordial greeting also to our other dear guests, who represent their Episcopal Conferences. With us is the Bishop of Dubrovnik, Mons. Roko Glasnović, whom we also ask to convey our gratitude to the Croatian Bishops’ Conference and the general public in the Republic of Croatia for their help and solidarity with the Church and all people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The representative of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Mons. Domenico Beneventi, Bishop of the Italian Diocese of San Marino-Montefeltro, and to him we extend our fraternal welcome and ask him to convey to the Italian Bishops’ Conference our gratitude for the prayers and other help from this part of the Church of Christ.

II.

At this session, the first held in the jubilee year 2025 since the birth of Jesus Christ, we will first reflect on the implementation of the conclusions of the last 92st regular session of our Bishops’ Conference. Then we will listen to the reports on the work during 2024, which will be submitted by the presidents of the individual councils of the BC BiH, our Secretariat, the Catholic News Agency, the Mission Centre and the Pontifical Mission Societies. Our topics will also be the proposal of guidelines on the appearance of ecclesiastical persons in the media space and the activities of spiritual movements in the area of our Bishops’ Conference.

A very important topic for us is the sixth meeting of all priests who work in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Priests and bishops from Bosnia and Herzegovina have also been invited to this meeting, and it will be held in Tomislavgrad on June 4th, 2025 (Kupres 2010, Livno 2013, Tomislavgrad 2016, Kupres 2019, Livno 2022). We are already inviting bishops, priests and faithful to the celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the Split church councils at the time of the Croatian King Tomislav, whuch will be held on July 5, 2025, with a Eucharistic celebration in Tomislavgrad, which we will also discuss.

III.

We are holding this session in a period that is marked at the ecclesiastical level by the health problems of Pope Francis. On this occasion, as bishops of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on February 24, 2025, we invited priests, friars, nuns and all other believers in Christ in their diocese to pray to the Almighty Lord for the intention to grant Him the necessary strength in overcoming health difficulties and healing. Therefore, we would like to thank all those who have prayed and are continuously praying for this intention and we invite them to continue this noble work.

In our call for prayerful solidarity with Pope Francis, we remember with gratitude his apostolic visit to Sarajevo in 2015 and the important messages he showed with his love for all the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At a time when there are concerns for the people of our country, and with the desire to resolve the current crisis in a peaceful way, we reiterate that human life is the greatest value on earth, and peace is the most important tool in its service, and everyone should preserve and build those.

In this sense, as our message and invitation to the entire social community at this moment, we would like to echo the words of the Pope: “There is an urgent need for a patient dialogue, full of trust, so that individuals, families and communities can transmit the values of their own culture and accept all the good in the experiences of others. (…) In this country, peace and harmony among Croats, Serbs and Bosniaks, and the incentives that (…) foster this harmony, as well as cordial and fraternal relations between Muslims, Jews and Christians, have an importance that extends far beyond the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (…) We should all recognize our fundamental human values, (…). In the name of these values, one can and must cooperate, build and talk, forgive and grow with them.” (Address by Pope Francis to the members of Presidency, 6th June 2015)

The Church teaches that dialogue is the only civilized way to build trust and peace, and we invite everyone to seek solutions in dialogue alone. We are also aware that interreligious dialogue can also contribute to the building of social justice and harmony. Therefore, as a Church and as individuals, we want to contribute. Pope Francis spoke about this as follows: "Interreligious dialogue, in addition to reflecting on the great themes of faith, is first and foremost a conversation about 'human life'. It divides everyday life in all its concreteness, with its joys and sorrows, its efforts and its hopes; it shares common responsibilities; it brings about a better future for all. It teaches how to live together, get to know each other and accept each other in our differences, freely, according to who each of us are. In dialogue, a certain spiritual communion is recognized and developed, which unites and helps to promote moral values, justice, freedom and peace. Dialogue is, after all, a school of humanity and a factor of unity that helps to build a society based on tolerance and mutual respect." (Address of Pope Francis at the Ecumenical and Interreligious Meeting, 6 June 2015)

Don Tomo Vukšić

President of the Bishops’ Conference