“A great celebration in the cathedral church of Belgrade on Sunday 2 April to pray to the Lord, a year after the death of John Paul II, that he may bless our country and help it to overcome the problems that still afflict it”: this is one of the two main events – explains Archbishop Stanislav Hocevar of Belgrade, Metropolitan of Serbia and Montenegro – that the Balkan country is about to hold to mark the first anniversary of the death of John Paul II. “The second important event – he adds – is the visit of Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace on 4-5 April; he will present the ‘Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church’, now translated for the first time into the Serb language”. Considerable interest in the memory of John Paul II has been created in Serbia: prayer meetings and eucharistic adoration have been held in Belgrade Cathedral every Saturday afternoon over the last few months; meditations on the main documents of the late Pope are also proposed. “The faithful – explains Monsignor Hocevar – need to deepen their knowledge of the papal magisterium; they must study the Pope’s teaching to seek solutions to the social and ecumenical problems we face”.
