Croatia: On board the catamaran Judita and to the accompaniment of cheering crowds and a heavy security presence, Pope John Paul sailed yesterday evening into the Croatian port of Rijeka.
The Pope (83) was at the start of a historic 100th overseas pastoral visit which marks yet another important milestone in his 25-year pontificate.
Earlier, he had formally touched down on Croatian soil when flying into the island of Krk, just off the coast. In an opening exchange of greetings with President Stejpan Mesic, the clearly tired and frail Pope thanked God for allowing him return to Croatia, saying in Croat: "I thank Almighty God for having allowed me to come among you on this my 100th pastoral visit."
Recalling Croatia's recent war-torn past as it struggled to emerge from the break-up of communist Yugoslavia, he added: "This country like several neighbouring countries still bears painful signs of a recent past; may those who exercise civil and religious authority never tire of trying to heal the wounds caused by a cruel war and of rectifying the consequences of a totalitarian system that for all too long attempted to impose an ideology opposed to man and his dignity."
Pope John Paul welcomed Croatia's commitment to EU integration. "The rich tradition of Croatia will surely contribute to strengthening the \ Union as an administrative and territorial unit and also as a cultural and spiritual reality"
Over the next four days, the Pope will visit five cities - Rijeka, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Osijek and Djakovo - with the highlight of the trip probably coming today in Dubrovnik when he will beatify Sister Marija Petkovic, founder of the order of the Daughters of Mercy. This is the Pope's third visit to Croatia, following those of 1994 and 1998.
Judging by the warmth of welcome in Rijeka, not to mention the profusion of papal posters and flags throughout the city, it would seem that Croatia will willingly seize the opportunity to once more greet their fellow Slav.
However, the most significant aspect of the trip is the fact that it is happening at all. Notwithstanding his all too obvious frailty, aggravated by Parkinson's disease, the Pope has again emphatically underlined his determination to take his evangelical message to the four corners of the earth.
Even if he is no longer steady enough on his feet to bend down and kiss the ground at his latest arrival point and even if he now has to resort to a variety of lifts, hydraulic chairs and mini-popemobiles to resolve the logistics of papal travel, Pope John Paul continues to hit the road.
Later this month, he travels to Bosnia-Herzegovina for one day, while in late August he will travel to mainly Buddhist Mongolia, a country with a Catholic population of just 170 people. As papal spokesman Dr Joaquin Navarro-Valls put it earlier this week, "to go that far for so few would really symbolise this papacy".
