by Denis ROMAC
"Those who lead the state have a huge responsibility to use all legal means to clarify the situation in Croatia. In that, they need courage, wisdom and decisiveness," archbishop Bozanic said, asked about his advise for the Croatian authorities in the current situation.
Saying that the whole problem facing Croatia is much wider than the church itself, the archbishop added that he could give only one answer, calling for "light to come to those who must act".
"When the society is facing difficulties, a lot of wisdom and caution is needed to make sure that some hasty statements do not harm the common good," the archbishop warned, explaining that the church has a consciousness about the attitude of its believers in such moments. "The Church cannot make a mistake if she follows that attitude regarding moral actions," Bozanic emphasized. Further explaining that attitude, Bozanic said that the Croatian people realizes that "it has been hurt somewhere". Thus, he added, we should value that and we must be open enough to understand that.
"We must stay united in something that is valuable," the Zagreb archbishop appealed. As he said, the faithful and the Church will send their prayers to God for the speedy solution of these problems because we must think about the future of our people and the young who want to lead normal lives.
Archbishop Bozanic talked about the Bobetko case at the presentation of a new document of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, "Called to the light", the action program for the Catholic church in Croatia at the start of the third millennium. The goal of the program is to promote unity in the activities of the Church. Rijeka archbishop Ivan Devcic and the dean of the Catholic Seminary Josip Baloban talked about the content of the document. Other Croat bishops attended the presentation of the document.
"So many people at one concert in Croatia is definitively an important event and the HTV has the obligation to broadcast the concert. The part 'for homeland - ready' could not be cut out because it is an integral part of the song 'Cavoglava' and that is why it was broadcast," HTV editor-in-chief Jasna Ulaga Valic said.
Ivo Goldstein, member of the HTV Council, told us that he thought that the concert should have been broadcast and that reaction was up to the public, but it would be disastrous if that reaction did not materialize. Don Grubisic, also a member of the HTV Council, told us that in his mind that was not a music concert but a radical political campaign of the right. Peter Lange from the German embassy confirmed that something similar could not be broadcast in the West. Namely, Lange says that a similar concert could be mentioned on the national German TV as news, but a broadcast of the concert, including shots of Nazi symbols and salute "Heil Hitler!" had no chance of making it to the TV screens.