Nov 5, 2008 / 01:19 am
A Catholic bishop from Bosnia and Herzegovina has protested that neither the Bosnian government nor the international community is doing anything to enable Catholic Croat refugees to return to their homes some thirteen years after the end of the civil war in the former Yugoslavia.
Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka recently visited the headquarters of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in Germany. He said he and his priests had expected that the government and the international community would take steps to restore damaged infrastructure, but he fears the government does not seem to regard itself as responsible for the Catholics.
In the bishop’s view, the government appears to take the position that Catholics are the concern of the bishop, though Bishop Komarica pointed out that it is not the task of the Church to build homes, provide running water and repair roads.
According to the bishop, perhaps two percent of the Catholics who fled the area have returned. He added there was no discernable political will to implement the public declarations that Catholic Croats could return to their homes.