Pope's visit to Bosnia

The west has become obsessed with Pope John Paul II as a conservative moral figure. His visit to Sarajevo (Sunday) showed how inadequate that view is. More than any other world leader, Karol Wojtyla is able to understand the divisions that have rent Europe in the 20th century and to appeal with authority for them to be transcended.

Formed in the east under Nazism and communism before being translated to the west as Bishop of Rome in 1978, he bestrides the gap not only between Christians of various denominations but also between people of different faiths. That ecumenical quality was evident both in the preparations for the visit by the Moslem- Croat federation and in the welcome he received from the Serbian member of Bosnia's Herzegovina's presidential council and from the Orthodox Church.

-- The Daily Telegraph, London