More than 10 years after the Dayton peace accords, "barely 12,000 of
the 220,000 refugees" have returned, he said, adding that international
funds designated to help the refugees have not been given to Catholic
Croats. The cardinal also said that since Jan. 1 donations to Catholic
agencies have been taxed 17 percent by the government.
YET EVERYONE WANTS TO POINT THE FINGER OF DAMNATION TOTALLY IN THE
DIRECTION OF BOSNIAN SERBS....***** AMERICA. ***** B*LL CL*NT*N. HE STOOD
BY WHILE THERE WAS ETHNIC MASSACRE IN RWANDA AND EAST TIMOR.
Catholics feel threat from Muslims, Bosnian government, says cardinal
By Regina Linskey
5/4/2006
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)
WASHINGTON - Catholics in Bosnia-Herzegovina feel pressure, threats and
discrimination from an unfair political system and from Muslims
financially backed by Islamic countries, said the head of the Bosnian
bishops' conference.
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Successful dialogue between Catholics and Muslims, which is solely
"about coexistence," depends on the political situation, Cardinal Vinko
Puljic of Sarajevo told Catholic News Service in a May 2 interview.
During the 1992-1995 war for independence and up to today, radical
influences from Eastern Islamic countries infiltrated into Bosnia, the
cardinal said through a translator during a visit to Washington.
Bosnian Muslims have access to funding and permits to build their
mosques, but Catholics do not have access to either, he said. The
cardinal said he has been waiting for a building permit for eight
years, whereas "the Muslims, whenever desired, they get" a building
permit.
In the Serb republic - one of the two Bosnian federations divided along
ethnic lines since the 1995 Dayton peace accords - Orthodoxy is the
state religion, so it is also financially and politically secure, the
cardinal said. The other federation is Muslim- and Croat-controlled.
The central federal government has a rotating presidency.
The plight of the country's Croatians -- most of whom are Catholic - is
not really about churches, the cardinal said. Catholics in the country
are not protected by the government and the police and do not have a
voice in the media; they need employment and infrastructure, he said.
Because Catholics do not have access to the media, there is "no way to
get our views across," so it seems like discrimination does not exist,
the cardinal said.
Meanwhile, most of the Catholic refugees displaced during the war have
not been able to return, he said.
To return to Bosnia-Herzegovina, refugees need to prove to the
government that they own land, the cardinal said, "but on the other
hand, everything was taken away from them. Documents were burned. ...
It's an impossible situation ... it's easier to go to another country."
More than 10 years after the Dayton peace accords, "barely 12,000 of
the 220,000 refugees" have returned, he said, adding that international
funds designated to help the refugees have not been given to Catholic
Croats. The cardinal also said that since Jan. 1 donations to Catholic
agencies have been taxed 17 percent by the government.
"All we want is that which the other has," he said. "All we want is the
same rights as Muslims and Serbs."
Cardinal Puljic said the Bosnian bishops' conference has proposed
constitutional reforms that include multiethnic rights and would squash
fears that rights would be "taken away even more."
Sometimes Catholics feel like "we are toys in the hands of great
players," the cardinal said.
He said he is concerned with the country's youths, who "do not see any
perspective regarding their political future."
Cardinal Puljic told CNS that the actual number of Catholics living in
the former Yugoslav republic is unclear, although he estimates that 14
percent of the population of approximately 4.5 million is Catholic. The
government has not held a census since before the war, the cardinal
said, adding, "They don't want to do that because it (census) will make
clear the ethnic cleansing."
While he was in Washington, the cardinal visited the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops. He also met with representatives of the U.S.
Institute of Peace and discussed interfaith relations, the status of
Catholics in Bosnia and constitutional reform.
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