Bosnia-Herzegovina's capital Sarajevo should soon get a monument to honour the late pope John Paul II, the Bosnian Catholic Press Agency (KTA) reported Wednesday.The initiative for the monument that should be erected in front of the Roman Catholic Cathedral in the heart of Sarajevo, according to report, was launched during the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the pontiff's first visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina in April 1997.
Several drafts of the monument have already been made, and it is expected that it shows the late pope while blessing people in front of the cathedral.
Bosnian Cardinal Vinko Puljic said Bosnian Catholics would always remember when the pope gave blessing to people that waited for him to finish his visit to the cathedral, and that therefore the monument should be a reminder on that moment.
Bosnia's top officials also supported the initiative.
The late pope John Paul II was highly respected in Bosnia- Herzegovina, a Muslim-dominated state in which Roman Catholics make some 15 per cent of some four million population.
During the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina he strongly pledged for peace demanding fast action to stop the bloodshed in the war torn country.
The late pontiff visited Bosnia twice, in April 1997, soon after the end of the country's war, and then again in June 2003, when he beatified Banja Luka-born Ivan Merz, as the first ever beatified Bosnian layman.
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