Holy See, Bosnia sign accord on pastoral care to armed forces

(April 12, 2010) The Holy See and Bosnia-Herzegovina signed an accord last week for providing pastoral care to the Catholic faithful of the armed forces of the former Yugoslav republic. The solemn signing of the accord took place on April 8 at the headquarters of the armed forces in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. Apostolic Nuncio to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Archbishop Alessandro D’Errico headed the Holy See delegation while defence minister Selmo Cikotić led the delegation of Bosnian-Herzegovina. The April 8^th accord was in fact the first step in the implementation of the Basic Accord signed nearly four years ago by the two sides on April 19, 2006, by which the Catholic Church became juridical entity in the Balkan nation. One of the clauses of the 2006 accord was that the religious activities of the Church in the armed forces would be ratified by a separate accord, which was signed on April 8.