Vatican City, 2 June 2015 (VIS) –
Pope Francis has sent a video message to the population and the
faithful of Bosnia and Herzegovina in view of his upcoming apostolic
trip to the capital Sarajevo on Saturday 6 June. The following is the
full text of the message.
“Dear brothers and sisters,
In just a few days I will travel to
Sarajevo to be with you. This thought brings me joy, and I wish to
extend my most cordial greetings to all of you who live in this city
and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I will come among you, with the help of
God, to confirm the faith of Catholics, to support ecumenical and
interreligious dialogue, and above all to encourage peaceful
coexistence in your country. I invite you to join me in prayer so
that this apostolic trip may bear the desired fruits for the
Christian community and for society as a whole.
'Peace be with you'. This is the motto
of my visit. They are the words with which the risen Jesus greeted
his disciples when he appeared in their midst in the Cenacle, on the
eve of Passover. It is He, the Lord, our strength and our hope, Who
gives us His peace, so that we might welcome it in our heart and
spread it with joy and with love.
For my part, I prepare to come among
you as a brother, as a messenger of peace, to express to everyone –
to everyone! – my respect and friendship. I would like to announce
God's mercy, tenderness to every person, to every family and to
every community.
Dear brethren of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, I assure you all of my affection and my strong spiritual
closeness. I encourage you, Catholics, to be witnesses of faith and
God's love for your fellow citizens, working for a society that
makes its way towards peace in fraternity and mutual collaboration.
As I await our encounter, I invoke upon
Sarajevo and the entire country the Lord's blessing and the maternal
protection of the Virgin Mary. Thank you!”