the Serb part of Bosnia Herzegovina Sunday, June 22.
The incident underscored Catholic concern that the pontiff will receive a less than cordial reception in a region that seems a far cry from when it first received Christianity two millenniums ago.
According to the Bible, Apostel Paul wrote in his Second Letter to Timothy that his pupil Titus traveled to Dalmatia that embraced much of today’s tense Bosnia Hezegovina, now recovering from Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two.
Some 4,000 police backed by NATO peacekeepers have been asked to guard the Pope.
The Bosnian Serb Interior Ministry said police in Banja Luka, the administrative center of the Bosnian Serb republic, have already raided several houses of individuals suspected of endangering the Pope’s one day visit.
POSTERS
It is thought the detainees were also involved in spreading posters and leaflets displaying anti-Pope slogans that appeared in the Banja Luka area.
The Bosnian Serb news agency linked the incidents to ultra nationalists known for causing troubles, including violence that marred a ceremony for the reconstruction of an Ottoman-era mosque, two years ago, which killed one and injured dozens.
"This visit is happening at a moment when many people in the world think there is a hostile environment and a climate for incidents," the Serb Republic’s President, Dragan Cavic, told the Reuters news agency. "But we will not allow any surprises."
SUFFERING
But analysts said these views reflect wide spread sentiments among Bosnian Serbs, who seem to view the pontiff’s visit to Banja Luka as sending a political message to the Catholic minority, after years of suffering.
An estimated 700.000 Catholic Croats and Muslims were expelled from the Bosnian Serb republic and dozens of churches and mosques were destroyed. Only about 130,000 have gone back since the war, the Reuters news agency reported.
Banja Luka Bishop Franjo Komarica, who endured hijackings and house arrest while seeing most of his 80,000-strong flock expelled or killed, said the authorities are doing little to help non-Serbs return.
HOPE
"The Pope’s visit is a light of hope for all those deprived of elementary rights, such as return to their homes, and I hope this event will give all of us a unique possibility to climb a step closer toward a better tomorrow," he told Reuters.
About 200.000 people of all ethnic groups died during the 1992-1995 war, and two million people were made homeless.
Yet, the 83-year old Polish born pontiff has made clear he wants to use his trip "to encourage the Catholic" minority to continue "on the important path" of "reconciliation" and peace, while reaching out to the Bosnian Serbs.
"I will go to Bosnia-Herzegovina to confirm the Catholic community there in the faith. That community has committed itself to the important path of reconciliation and harmony," the Pope said ahead of his trip.
CELIBACY
He was also to "beautify" Ivan Merz, a Bosnian Croat who took a vow of celibacy and devoted his life to the Catholic Church in the early 1900s. 50,000 pilgrims from the region were expected to attend the ceremony.
The 83-year old Polish-born pontiff has shown a soft spot for the Balkans, and his 100th foreign visit to Croatia earlier this month, was viewed as "spiritual triumph" of the Catholic Church.
The international community also seems to hope that the Pope visit will speed up efforts to arrest war crimes suspects, including former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic and his war time military commander, General Ratko Mladic.
They were indicted by the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal on suspicion of involvement in murdering more than 7,000 Muslim men when Serbs overran the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in the summer of 1995. That atrocity became known as the "Srebrenica massacre."
