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After the weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square, the pope
told pilgrims he would go to Sarajevo on June 6 to encourage
"reconciliation, peace, inter-religious dialogue and
friendship".
It will be the first papal trip to Sarajevo in 18 years. Pope
John Paul II ignored apparent assassination threats to visit the
war-torn city in 1997, when he urged greater dialogue between
Bosniak Muslims, Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs.
The pope will visit a country still looking for the unity needed
to address high unemployment, corruption and deep political
polarization. These ills have dogged the Balkan country since
the 1992-95 war, prompting violent anti-government riots across
the country in February last year.
The pope's Bosnia-Herzegovina trip follows visits to Jordan, the
Palestinian territories, Albania and Turkey last year, where he
sought to foster cooperation with moderate Islam to protect
Christians facing increasing persecution in the Middle East,
especially in Iraq.
In his September visit to Albania, the pontiff hailed it as a
model of inter-faith harmony because of good relations between
its majority Muslim community and its Christian denominations.
(Reporting by Steve Scheerer; Additional reporting by Matt
Robinson in Belgrade; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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