From- THE CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT - March 1994 - page 6

Pope John Paul is moving closer toward supporting military intervention in Bosnia. He traditionally says the rosary together with a few thousand people on the first Saturday of each month, and in February that coincided with a brutal mortar attack in Sarajevo that killed more than 60 people and injured nearly 200.

The Pope called the attack a massacre by criminal hands "which continue systematically to slaughter and destroy." He said those responsible would havc to answer before God.

He urged world leaders to "try everything" to bring about a cease-fire. "Europe cannot tolerate seeing entire populations deprived of the most fundamental rights, cities annihilated, sons exterminated," the Pope said. "I beg those responsible for acts so unworthy of humanity to stop these crimes. They will have to answer for them before God."

Two days later tile Pope met with officials from the NATO Defense College, which is based in Rome, and told them to defend and uphold the rights of all, especially the victims of injustice and violence.

"Europe needs to remember that its destiny does not depend on strategic or economic interests alone," he said. "It needs above all to recover its soul."