Audience to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bosnia and Herzegovina

(September 18, 2008) The Church promotes an understanding of the human person who receives from God the capacity to transcend individual limitations and social constraints so as to recognize and uphold the universal values which safeguard the dignity of all and serve the common good, said Pope Benedict XVI. He was welcoming the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Holy See and accepting the Letters of Credence, on Thursday, 18^th of September. He expressed that the task of the Church is to build a more just world to recognize the supernatural vocation proper to every individual. The Holy Father appreciated their geographical location that contains a rich mix of cultures and precious patrimonies. Tragically, he said, their cultural and ethnic differences throughout history have not infrequently been a source of misunderstanding and friction. No person wishes for war. No parents desire conflict for their children. Yet, so many families in your land have been subjected to the suffering which results from these calamities, the Pope added. In this regard, the Holy Father acknowledged the progress being made to consolidate gestures of reconciliation and to encourage the International Community to continue its efforts to assist Bosnia and Herzegovina to this end. Speaking on the growth of the country, the Pope said that Education contributes greatly to the soul of a nation. Good schooling not only attends to the cognitive development of children but to the civic and spiritual as well, he said. But the state has the responsibility to strengthen the institutions and extol the principles which lie at the heart of all democracies. For her part the Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue to assist in the attainment of the goals of reconciliation, peace and prosperity. Through her parishes, schools, health-care facilities, and community development programmes she exercises her mission of universal charity in its threefold form: material, intellectual and spiritual.