Tonight at the Mostar Cultural Center, as part of an international cultural event Mostar Summer 2025, a book promotion was held Franciscans – guardians of Bosnia by Faruk Vela.
"This is the first promotion of this work in Mostar and Herzegovina, and it is with great joy that we are here tonight. I would like to thank the Mostar Cultural Center and the event." Mostar summer on the opportunity to present ourselves here. We are extremely honored that within the framework of this event we have the opportunity to speak about important topics for our country, and that is, among other things, the issue of the Franciscan Order through the experience of the Bosnian Franciscans in the context of a possible Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today, we live in a time in which it is often claimed that Bosnia and Herzegovina is impossible, that interreligious dialogue is impossible, that coexistence in the most positive sense is impossible - while the experience of the Bosnian Franciscans says the opposite. We show that in BiH we live in a true homeland and that it is wide enough and open for all of us", emphasized the author of the book Faruk Vele, adding that the Bosnian Franciscans have been an extremely important order throughout the history of the Bosnian state.
"In order to get to know true Bosnian values, we must get to know all its specific aspects. The book was created over a longer period of time, 15 to 20 years, through conversations I had with prominent members of the Franciscan order and through stories about the Franciscans that we recorded. It may seem utopian to some, but this is one voice of a Bosnian man for a possible Bosnia and Herzegovina and for a better life in this region," Vele concluded.
One of the book's reviewers, Fr. Ivo Marković, professor of Franciscan Theology in Sarajevo, emphasized the importance of this work:
"I think this book is very important. It represents, so to speak, a synchronic cross-section of about twenty years of Bosnian Franciscans. The author conducted interviews in which the relationship of Bosnian Franciscans towards BiH is reflected through a historical perspective. I wrote a study about his book in which I tried to show how the community at that time reacted. Then I expanded this to the communist period, the pre-war and war times, and tried to show how the Bosnian Franciscans fell so in love with BiH throughout 700 years of history that they permanently felt that it was their country, that they should live there and that BiH should be preserved as a sacred place. I believe that the book is very inspiring for younger generations as well," emphasized Fr. Marković.
In addition to the author and Fr. Marković, the book was also spoken about by the promoter, Mr. Alen Zečević, a Bosnian and Herzegovinian historian.
Tomorrow, Monday, July 28th, as part of the program Mostar Summer 2025 An evening in memory of Oliver Dragojević will be held, performed by Antonio Zadra, at the Mostar Cultural Center, starting at 9 p.m.
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