Hirošima, 18. studenoga 2007.

Poštovani biskupe Misue, izaslaniče gradonačelnika Hirošime gospodine Honda, ljubljeni građani stradalničke Hirošime. Dolazim iz daleke, Japanu bliske zemlje, Hrvatske, u kojoj se prije šesnaest godina dogodio neizrecivi zločin protiv grada i građana, zločin protiv čovječnosti. U materijalima koji su vam ranije podijeljeni razvidna je strahota razaranja Vukovara, čiji pad i tragediju danas obilježavamo u ovoj prelijepoj katedrali.

Hirošima, koja je proživjela nuklearnu anihilaciju, a naporom je svojih žitelja izgrađena i posve obnovljena, u stanju je proniknuti patnju Vukovara. Ova sveta misa zadušnica i vaša vjernička nazočnost svjedoče prihvaćanje hrvatske boli i njeno puno razumijevanje.

Dvije boli, ona starija hirošimska i ova novija vukovarska, ujedinjene u jednu zajedničku bol, zazivaju Boga moleći za praštanje i mir, za osvješćivanje naše ljudske rase i obdržavanje plemenitih vrednota čovječnosti. Na utuk bestijalnosti koja nas često postiđuje i baca u kal.

Hvala vam svima na suosjećanju i dobroti, a vama i građanima Vukovara, kao i građanima Japana i Hrvatske, upućujem sljedeće riječi o jednom od najstrašnijih zločina koji se dogodio u Europi poslije Drugoga svjetskoga rata.

Vukovar je otvorena rana na tijelu Hrvatske. Jer samo ono što ne prestaje boljeti, ostaje u sjećanju. Ne cijeleći, podsjeća nas na našu vlastitu krhkost, našu smrtnost i na opasnosti koje vrebaju u ovome svijetu. Uči nas poniznosti, junaštvu, dostojanstvu u porazu, ljubavi prema domovini i njenom puku, milosrđu spram neprijatelja.

Vukovaru dugujemo pobjedu  do koje smo došli kroz vrata poraza, zahvaljujujući odlučnosti i ustrajnosti koja nas je pronijela u najtežim vremenima. Vukovar je umro da bi Hrvatska živjela. Preobrazio je suze u zvijezde, prostrijelne rane u snopove svjetlosti, mrtve u anđele. Vukovar je svod nebesnika, zaustavljenih u našem sjećanju, podsjetnik na zemaljske nedostatnosti i zazivatelj više sudbine.

Ako, zaboravivši grad, prestanemo biti stanovnicima Vukovara nećemo se moći nazivati građanima svijeta. Nećemo moći sućutjeti sa žrtvama 11. rujna, niti iskazivati gnušanje nad svenazočnom sramotom holokausta, genocida u Bosni i Armeniji, Bleiburga i Ruande, Istočnog Timora, Hirošime i Nagasakija. Nećemo biti u stanju iskazivati zazor od svih oblika okrutnosti i mučenja, od bilo koje vrste agresije, tlačenja i osvete.

Vukovar je naša hrvatska samoobjavljena mjera napaćene ljudskosti, prilog svjetskoj knjizi besramnosti.

Ne više grad, Vukovar je metafora činjenica preobraćenih u fikciju.

Spaljeni kamen temeljac domovine, njena nepresušna mašta i nadahnuće što tjera cvjetove k smrti. Ni zemljopis nit arhitektura, Vukovar je stanje duha, slijed nepokajanih srca, ugljen pretvoren u zlato. Naš epicentar, paklene dveri za raj.

Sve vas volim, i iz dubine srca zahvaljujem vam u svoje osobno ime, u ime vukovarskih žrtava i u ime svoje lijepe, plemenite Domovine.

Dear Bishop Misue, representative of the Mayor of Hiroshima Mr. Honda, beloved citizens of the martyred City of Hiroshima. I am coming from the far away, but to Japan close, country of Croatia, where sixteen years ago unspeakable crime against city and its citizens, crime against humanity has happened. From the materials which were handed to you earlier, the horrors of destruction of Vukovar, the city whose tragedy and fall we commemorate today in this beautiful Cathedral, are more than evident.

Hiroshima, city which experienced nuclear annihilation, but was completely reconstructed due to the great efforts of its citizens, is capable of understanding the sufferings of Vukovar. This Holy Mass and your faithfuls' presence prove the acceptance of Croatia's pain and its full understanding.

Two pains, the older one of Hiroshima and the new one of Vukovar, joined together in one common pain, are pleading to God for forgiveness and peace, for enlightenment of our human race and for observance of noble values of humanity. Contrary to bestiality, which often puts us to shame and throws us into the mire.

I would like to thank you all for compassion and kindness. Let me now convey to you, as well as to the citizens of Vukovar, of Croatia and Japan, a few words about one of the most horrible crimes that happened in Europe after the World War II.

Vukovar is an open wound on the body of Croatia. Only that which does not cease to hurt, remains in memory. Never to heal, it reminds us of our own vulnerability, our mortality, and the dangers we live with in this world. It teaches us humility, heroism, dignity in defeat, love of country and its people, mercy towards enemy.

Vukovar claims the victory that is entered through the doors of defeat, by the determination and persistence, which carries us through the worst of times. Vukovar died so that Croatia could live. It turned tears into stars, shot wounds into tunnels of light, the dead into angels. Vukovar is a canopy of celestial bodies, frozen in our mind, evoking earthly shortcomings, calling for a higher destiny.

If, by forgetting the city, we stop being citizens of Vukovar, it would be impossible to call ourselves citizens of the world. We would be unable to empathize with the September 11 victims, not able to show disgust for the global shame of the Holocaust, the Bosnian and Armenian genocides, of Bleiburg and Rwanda, East Timor, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. We would no longer be able to show our revulsion towards all forms of cruelty and torture, for all and any type of aggression, oppression and retaliation.

Vukovar is our Croatian self-revealed measure of pained humanity, contribution to the world book of infamies.

No longer a city, Vukovar is a metaphor for facts transmuted into fiction.

Croatia's burned founding stone, her inexhaustible imagination and inspiration that hurries flowers to die. Neither geography nor architecture, Vukovar is a state of mind, the flow of our unrepentant hearts, coal turned into gold. Our Ground Zero, Hell's Gate to Paradise.

I love you all, and from the bottom of my heart I would like to thank you personally, as well as in the name of Vukovar's victims and my beautiful, noble Homeland.