Tag Archive | God

The Most Important Person on Earth is a Mother – By Cardinal Mindszenty

May12

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The most important person… on earth is a Mother.

She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral.

She need not.

She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral –

A dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body.

The angels have not been blessed with such a grace.

They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new souls to heaven.

Only a human mother can.

Mothers are closer to God the creator than any other creature.

God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation…

What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother?

– By Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

Pope Francis’ Homily at the Canonization Mass for the Martyrs of Otranto Italy y Columbia’s 1st Saint Mother Laura Montoya y Saint María Guadalupe García Zavala

May12

HOLY MASS AND CANONIZATIONS

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Saint Peter’s Square
Seventh Sunday of Easter, 12 May 2013

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Dear brothers and sisters!

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In this seventh Sunday of Easter we are gathered to celebrate with joy a feast of holiness. Thanks be to God who has made His glory – the glory of Love – to shine on the Martyrs of Otranto, on Mother Laura Montoya and María Guadalupe García Zavala. I greet all of you who have come to this celebration – from Italy, Colombia, Mexico, from other countries – and I thank you! Let us look on the new saints in the light of the Word of God proclaimed: a Word that invited us to be faithful to Christ, even unto martyrdom; a word that recalled to us the urgency and the beauty of bringing Christ and his Gospel to everyone; a word that spoke to us about the witness of charity, without which even martyrdom and mission lose their Christian savior.

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The Acts of the Apostles, when they speak of the Deacon, Stephen, the first martyr, insist on telling us that he was a man “full of the Holy Spirit (6:5, 7:55).” What does this mean? It means that he was full of the love of God, that his whole person, his whole life was animated by the Spirit of the risen Christ, so as to follow Jesus with total fidelity, even unto to the gift of self.

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Today the Church proposes for our veneration a host of martyrs, who were called together to the supreme witness to the Gospel in 1480. About eight hundred people, [who], having survived the siege and invasion of Otranto, were beheaded near that city. They refused to renounce their faith and died confessing the risen Christ. Where did they find the strength to remain faithful? Precisely in faith, which allows us to see beyond the limits of our human eyes, beyond the boundaries of earthly life, to contemplate “the heavens opened” – as St. Stephen said – and the living Christ at the right hand of the Father. Dear friends, let us conserve the faith [that] we have received and that is our true treasure, let us renew our fidelity to the Lord, even in the midst of obstacles and misunderstandings; God will never allow us to want [for] strength and serenity. As we venerate the martyrs of Otranto, let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good.

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The second idea can be drawn from the words of Jesus that we heard in the Gospel: “I pray for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may be one, as You, Father, are in me and I in thee, that they also may be in us. (Jn 17:20)” Saint Laura Montoya was an instrument of evangelization, first as teacher and then as the spiritual mother of the indigenous peoples, in whom she infused hope, welcoming them with the love [she] learned from God, and bringing them to him with pedagogical efficacy that respected, and was not opposed to, their own culture. In her work of evangelization, Mother Laura became, in the words of St. Paul, truly everything to everyone, (cf. 1 Cor 9:22). Even today her spiritual daughters live and bring the Gospel to the most remote and needy places, as a kind of vanguard of the Church.

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This first saint born on the beautiful Colombian soil, teaches us to be generous [together] with God, not to live the faith alone – as if we could live our faith in isolation – but to communicate, to radiate the joy of the Gospel by word and witness of life in every place we find ourselves. She teaches us to see the face of Jesus reflected in the other, to overcome indifference and individualism, welcoming everyone without prejudice or constraints, with love, giving the best of ourselves and above all, sharing with them the most valuable thing we have, which is not our works or our organizations, no: the most valuable thing we have is Christ and his Gospel.

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Finally, a third thought. In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays to the Father with these words: “I have made known thy name to them and will make it known: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (Jn 17:26)” The martyrs’ faithfulness even unto death, the proclamation of the Gospel are rooted in the love of God that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5), and in the witness we must bear to this love in our daily lives. St. Maria Guadalupe García Zavala knew this well. Giving up a comfortable life – how much damage does the comfortable life, life of comfort, do? The gentrification of the heart paralyzes us – and [she], giving up a comfortable life to follow the call of Jesus, taught people to love poverty, in order the more to love the poor and the sick. Mother Lupita knelt on the floor of the hospital before the sick, before the abandoned, to serve them with tenderness and compassion. This is what it means to touch the flesh of Christ. The poor, the abandoned, the sick, the marginalized are the flesh of Christ. And Mother Lupita touched the flesh of Christ and taught us this conduct: [to be] unabashed,[to be] unafraid, [to be] not loathe to touch the flesh of Christ. Mother Lupita understood what it means “to touch the flesh of Christ.” Today her spiritual daughters also seek to reflect the love of God in works of charity, without sparing sacrifices, and [while] facing with meekness, with apostolic constancy (hypomone), any obstacle.

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This new Mexican saint invites us to love as Jesus loved us, and this leads one not to retreat into oneself, into one’s own problems, into one’s own ideas, into one’s own interests in this little world that has done us so much damage, but to get up and go to meet those who need care, understanding and support, to bring the warm closeness of God’s love through gestures of delicacy and sincere affection and love.

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Fidelity to Christ and his Gospel, in order to proclaim it in word and deed, bearing witness to God’s love with our love, with our charity toward all: the saints proclaimed today offer shining examples and teachings of these. They also pose questions to our Christian life: how am I faithful to Christ? Let us take this question with us to consider during the day: how am I faithful to Christ? I am able to “show” my faith with respect, but also with courage? Am I attentive to others, do I recognize when someone is in need, do I see in everyone a brother and a sister to love? Let us ask that, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the new saints, the Lord might fill our lives with the joy of His love. So be it.

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Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

May9

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Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Reading 1 Acts 1:1-11

In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9

R. (6) God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R. Alleluia.
All you peoples, clap your hands, shout to God with cries of gladness, For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R. Alleluia.
God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy; the LORD, amid trumpet blasts. Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our king, sing praise.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R. Alleluia.
For king of all the earth is God; sing hymns of praise. God reigns over the nations, God sits upon his holy throne.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. or: R. Alleluia.

Reading 2 Eph 1:17-23

Brothers and sisters: May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, 
give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May 
the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that 
belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the 
holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, 
in accord with the exercise of his great might: which he worked in Christ, raising 
him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every
principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only 
in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things beneath his feet and 
gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of 
the one who fills all things in every way.

Or Heb 9:24-28; 10:19-23 

Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, 
but heaven itself, that he might now appear 
before God on our behalf. Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, 
as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary 
with blood that is not his own; if that were so, he would have had to suffer 
repeatedly from the foundation of the world.  
But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by 
His Sacrifice. 
Just as it is appointed 
that men and women die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ, 
offered once to take away the sins of many, will 
appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation 
to those who eagerly await him.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since through the blood of Jesus  
we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary 
by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, 
that is, his flesh, and since we have a great priest over 
the house of God, let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, 
with our hearts sprinkled clean from an 
evil conscience  and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold unwaveringly 
to our confession that gives us hope, for he 
who made the promise is trustworthy.

Gospel Lk 24:46-53

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in His Name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
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Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.
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Charles Ramsey interview, rescuer of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight in Cleveland

May8

Published on May 6, 2013

CLEVELAND – “After going missing more than 10 years ago, Amanda Berry shouted to a man from a Seymour Avenue house on Monday. Charles Ramsey and Angel Cordero broke down the door and freed Berry, who was 16 when she disappeared in 2003. Cordero told NewsChannel5′s Stephanie Ramirez that he recognized Berry from posters and that she was with a 4 or 5-year-old child.”

“Other victims Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus.”

My Two Cents Worth

Thank God they were rescued. God help them to recover. Seems the Police dropped the ball when their abductor Castro, was accused of abusing his wife, and threatening school girls on the bus. He finally was fired after several incidents. This is a “wake up call” to lazy ass cops, who believe men over women. It is the “good ole boy network” that has to stop. This man slipped through the Judicial System with “RED FLAGS” written all over his behavior.

During the Month of May – the Month Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had set aside for Justice - I am glad my prayers for those who had No Justice and would get Justice, were answered by God. God does hear our prayers. So, I’m grateful.

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Code of Canon Law 1388 §1

Apr14

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Can. 1388 §1. A confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; one who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the delict.

Vatican webpage: Code of Canon Law 1388 §1

My Two Cents Worth

Does a Diocese, Archdiocese and Vatican only do one-sided fact gathering? In my case, yes.

Why else would a presbyter who violated the Seal of My Confession be promoted, to such an undeserved office in the Vatican? He lied his butt off, to get that post. God bless him.

Justice can be skewered, in the Catholic Church, because I’ve witnessed and experienced it, first hand.

A Prelate dared to call me a liar – thru his 5 lawyers – died after he got back from Rome, and he was found dead on the Feast Day of St. John Nepomucene.

In April —- I prayed:

“God defend me like you did the Israelites and Moses, against the Pharaoh and his armies. Saint John Nepomucene they have 5 lawyers, and I have none. Help GOD to defend me, please. Thank you.”

I prayed this prayer until May 16 —-.

And I am very grateful that God defended me. Big time!

I did not ask him to ‘take out my enemy’ but God thought this was best.

But, it appears to me that God did end up defending me, like He did Moses against the Pharaoh. and his armies. God must have missed me big time, at Mass. Let just say, I took the Priest’s punishment, because he was too big a baby to take his own punishment. If I thought it would convert him, I’d have gladly done his punishment. But, no one who is not held responsible for their own sins, ever learns anything from you doing their punishment. The only thing they learn, is that they got away with it. God bless liars, cheats and thieves!

The prelate calling me a liar was found dead on the feast day of St John Nepomucene. I know St John Nepomucene acted as my Defense Lawyer at that Prelate’s Particular Judgment Day.

Do I think that Prelate went to hell? No. Purgatory maybe. I really do not know the sentence he got, from God. I do pray for the repose of his soul.

I asked Ss. John Nepomucene and John Vianney to pray for him, since February 14, that year. So, I know they also prayed for his salvation, and to make a good confession before he left Rome. So, I am grateful if he chose to listen, to these saint’s urging’s to confess, before leaving the Vatican. That I sense, big time. I know those two saints had everyone’s best interests, at heart. That Prelate died as soon as he got back from Rome. God, not the Vatican, knew the real story, not the cover-up story, demonizing me.

The other prelate suddenly got heart problems. GOD shut down their evil plans, by showing His Mighty hand, in my favor.

I have seen GOD’s marvelous deeds, done for me and mine – and no, no, no, I am not worthy of any of them. I am the biggest sinner out there. But, God did “defend me” big time! I will sing His Praises forever – for defending me.

“Jesus – I trust in You.”

Read here: Saint John Nepomucene (Nepomuk) Bohemian priest who died rather than reveal the sins of the Queen confessed to him. The King tried to get him to reveal them, but St John Nepoucene refused to tell, the King. So, the King threw him in a river. God lit up the area above the river, where St John was thrown.

“Dear St John Nepomucene: I love your eternal priestly concern, for me. Thanks for defending me, so many times, but especially on your feast day May 16, —-. You are a priest forever, according to the Order of Melchizedek.

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Third Party Gossips from My Diocese, Archdiocese, EWTN and Rome – don’t know squat! Their ignorance shows. Big time.

Just remember – Saint John Nepomucene – weighed in on my side; not my opponents who read my blog for “gotcha’s.”

It’s personal. Real personal, when I take that priest’s punishment, and not him.

Offering it up only goes so far. God weighs in eventually. And, in my case He weighed in on MY SIDE not their’s.

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Mostar’s Bishop Ratko Perić – Regarding Invalid Confirmations

Apr10

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READ: “Te Deum” blogger named Diane Korzeniewski, OCDS

Diane’s article appeared in New Advent, too. Here is her investigative work on Medjugorje.  

 On Thursday, 4 April 2013, the Diocesan Chancery office in Mostar received an e-mail message written in capital letters, sent from the e-mail address of Zdenko Vego, but signed by Marijana Vego.  Marijana’s precise message follows in full, along with the Bishop’s response:

LETTER [TO] BISHOP RATKO PERIĆ

DEAR BISHOP RATKO,

I’M ADDRESSING YOU IN THE NAME OF ALL CATHOLIC MOTHERS WHO ARE PREPARING THEIR CHILDREN FOR THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY CONFIRMATION ON SUNDAY.

THE CONFIRMATION WILL BE ON 7 APRIL 2013, IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS IN ČAPLJINA. (WHITE SUNDAY OR DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY).

MAY GOD BLESS YOU BY THE MODEL OF DIVINE MERCY AND MAY YOU ACCEPT THIS INVITATION SO THAT OUR CHILDREN CAN, WITHOUT ANY DUALISM, RECEIVE THIS HOLY SACRAMENT IN PEACE AND HUMILITY – I INVITE YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS AND HIS LAWS OF LOVE WHICH SHOULD NOT SUBSIDE IN OUR UNIVERSAL CATHOLIC WORLD. FOR IF WE ACCEPT THE HOLY GOSPEL, THEN IT’S CLEAR THAT WE WILL BE JUDGED BY LOVE.

I BELIEVE THAT THIS INVITATION WILL NOT BE REFUSED, BUT ON THE CONTRARY, BE ACCEPTED – BECAUSE WE ARE ALL GOD’S CHILDREN MADE IN HIS IMAGE.

DEAR MONS. RATKO, I BELIEVE THAT THE FEELING OF LOVE WILL ALSO PREVAIL IN YOU TOWARDS OUR YOUTH WHO ARE AT VARIOUS TURNING POINTS IN THEIR LIVES. HENCE, LET’S NOT ALLOW THIS KIND OF UNIVERSAL CONFUSION TO ALSO REIGN IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THAT MAY MAKE THEM GO ASTRAY FOR WE KNOW THAT EVERY HUMAN ORDER WITHOUT GOD IS AN AWFUL ERROR WHOSE INSTIGATOR IS THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS.

MAY THE LIGHT OF THE RISEN JESUS CHRIST SHINE UPON YOU WITH A CLEAR BRIGHTNESS – WISHING YOU A HAPPY AND BLESSED EASTER FROM THE PARISH OF ST. FRANCIS, ČAPLJINA.

MARIJANA VEGO

THE BISHOP’S RESPONSE TO MARIJANA VEGO, ČAPLJINA

Dear Marijana!

Thank you for the Easter wishes that you sent to me yesterday by e-mail.

I agree with you that we have to do whatever we can to deter young believers from universal confusion that can lead them astray. If we agree on this, I think we will then agree about these other points that follow.

1 – The Lord Jesus instituted the Church and entrusted it to the care of the Apostles with Peter as its head. Their successors, the bishops, in communion with the Pope, lead the Catholic Church. Since in this world we are imperfect, the Church therefore, besides love requires laws and a canonical order. According to the teachings and Canon Law of the Catholic Church “A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor (pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop” (Can. 515 §1).

2 – The parish of St. Francis in Čapljina, as a community of faithful in the diocese of Mostar-Duvno, has a temporary parish office and liturgical space in the city of Čapljina, located on G. Šušak Street, in the part of the city called Peline. It also has an official parish priest, Father Ivan Kordić, who is assisted by Father Dragan Filipović. At the beginning of this school year about 50 pupils in the 8th grade presented themselves to the parish priest, Fr. Ivan, to be confirmed this year. In our dioceses in Herzegovina, we do not encourage confirmation in the lower grades. Upon the invitation of the parish priest, I agreed that with God’s help, I will confer the Sacrament of Confirmation in that parish on Sunday, 16 June 2013, (Službeni vjesnik, 3/2012., str. 278;http://www.cbismo.com/files/file/Vjesnik_2012_3.pdf).

3 – Unfortunately, the parish church of St. Francis, the parish house and rectory in Čapljina are still being unlawfully usurped by three suspended priests, who have been dismissed by Franciscan Order due to their disobedience. They and the community that gathers around them are not in communion with the particular or the universal Church, commonly known as Catholic. We have invited those suspended priests to resolve their priestly status and placed the Chancery Office at their disposal in order to mediate in this matter (Vrhbosna, 2/2004., pp. 180-181), and that the parish rectory and property be handed over to the legitimate parish priest, thereby putting an end to the division that exists in Čapljina. They have however, remained obstinate in their disobedience.

4 – In the Catholic community we wish to develop, it is the right and the duty of parents to register their children as candidates for holy Confirmation with the parish priest. It is the right and duty of the parish priest to teach those candidates properly. It is the right and duty of the parents and godparents to guarantee that their children are ready to take on the obligations regarding their Christian life and to grow in maturity. It is the right and duty of the bishop to make sure that those children receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

5 – If you accept this, then it is obvious that Christian mothers, individually or in a group; or the suspended priests in the parish of Čapljina, cannot schedule any celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Therefore, I invite you and the other mothers in whose name you are writing, to contact your parish priest, Father Ivan Kordić. The preparation for this sacrament as a rule, usually takes a full school year. However, if we all make an effort, with God’s assistance, why not celebrate a lawful and valid Confirmation this year of all those in the 8th grade on 16 June as has already been officially scheduled?

6 – As your bishop I ask and beg you, by the Divine Mercy of the Father in Heaven: do not call upon the Holy Gospel to say that we are acting against the Gospel of Christ the Lord and his Church – which is one, holy, catholic and apostolic! It is precisely this that creates a “dualism” and takes away “peace and humility” from us!

In the name of the Crucified One, who Died, and has Risen and who will judge us, please do not organize an unlawful and invalid rite of “confirmation” in Čapljina on 7 April or at any other time.

I plead with you by the gifts of the Holy Spirit which the candidates receive in a lawful and valid Confirmation, that you not support the ecclesiastical disorder in Čapljina, especially because you are aware that: “every human order without God is a awful error whose instigator is the Prince of Darkness.” If this is the case with “human order”, how will it be then when dealing with church disorder?

By the love of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron of the parish of Čapljina, please do not take part in this kind of unlawful and invalid “confirmation”, nor invite or expect me to bless this scandalous and schismatic situation.

Thank you for your message which has helped us once again to explain this tragic “dualism”, intolerable “confusion” and schismatic “situation”, so that the people cannot justify themselves by saying that they did not know.

To you and to the other Catholic mothers in Čapljina, I wish and I pray to God, that you all be enlightened with the light of the Risen Christ and that the Spirit kindle in you love for peace and unity in the Church!

Mostar, 5 April 2013

+ Ratko Perić, Bishop

Here is a portion of the Bishop of Mostar’s Letter found on his website

The Church, from the local to supreme level, from the beginning to this very day, has clearly and constantly repeated: Non constat de supernaturalitate! This practically means no pilgrimages are allowed that would presuppose any supernatural character to the apparitions, there exists no shrine of the Madonna and there are no authentic messages, revelations nor true visions!

This is the state of things today. How will things be tomorrow? We’ll leave them in God’s hands and under Our Lady’s protection!”
  Mostar, 1 September 2007
+ Ratko Perić
Bishop of Mostar-Duvno
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