Father Pero Mili\u010devi\u0107 witnessed the cruelest face of war when he was just a child. On July 28, 1993, a group of Muslim militiamen from the Bosnia and Herzegovina army stormed his native village, Dlkani, in the Jablanica district. In just one morning, 39 people were killed, including his father and several members of his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the experience of the darkness and evil of war,\u201d he summarized to journalists at the Holy See Press Office during the recent presentation for the pope\u2019s message for the 2026 World Day of Peace, which will be celebrated on Jan. 1.<\/p>\n
Thirty-two years after that day of terror, that boy, who instantly lost his innocence, speaks today with the serenity of a priest. Mili\u010devi\u0107 was only 7 years old when the gunfire shattered his childhood. He was playing with his twin brother and another of his older brothers when the bursts of gunfire began. \u201cThe bullets flew over our heads,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
His mother and sister pulled them inside the house to safety. His father, Andrija, wasn\u2019t there. He had gone out to the fields to help an aunt, but he was also murdered. He was 45 years old. Mili\u010devi\u0107\u2019s mother, Ru\u017ea, was left a widow with nine children, seven of them minors.<\/p>\n
That same day, two of his mother\u2019s sisters and several cousins \u200b\u200bwere also murdered. \u201cWhen one person dies, it\u2019s already terrible; when three children die, as happened to my aunt, I don\u2019t know how a mother\u2019s heart doesn\u2019t break,\u201d the priest confessed, his voice trembling.<\/p>\n
7 months held in a prison camp<\/p>\n
The devastation of that July 28 did not end with the massacre. His mother and siblings were deported to a prison camp known as the \u201cMuseum\u201d in Jablanica, along with about 300 Croatian Catholics. They remained there for seven months.<\/p>\n
The conditions were extreme. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have enough food, there was no hygiene, and we slept on cold granite slabs,\u201d he recounted. Death was a part of daily life, but, he explained, the physical pain and hunger were not comparable to the anguish of not knowing what would become of them.<\/p>\n
\u2018We would never have survived without faith\u2019<\/p>\n
What sustained them was a simple faith, inherited from their mother: the daily recitation of the rosary. \u201cWe would never have survived without faith, prayer, and the need for peace,\u201d he related.<\/p>\n
During that imprisonment, the temptation for revenge was constant. However, Mili\u010devi\u0107 said he left the camp with a firm conviction: \u201cWe had to maintain peace in our hearts and not think about revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
When they were finally released, another devastating blow came. His father\u2019s body had remained exposed to the elements for seven months without being interred. Only then were they able to lay him to rest. \u201cHis body had been left unburied; what we buried were his bones,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Mili\u010devi\u0107 is often asked how he was able to endure so much suffering. His answer hasn\u2019t changed over the years: faith. \u201cThat upbringing in God nourished us and helped us get through horrors that no child should ever see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Forgiveness, however, was a process. He couldn\u2019t find it in his heart to forgive right away. Mili\u010devi\u0107 readily admitted that at first, he was consumed by rage. For years, it remained an open wound. However, the true turning point came when he decided to become a priest. He was ordained in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u2018There can be no inner peace without forgiveness\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I began hearing the confessions of the faithful, I understood that there can be no inner peace without forgiveness and that it was necessary to deal with what I went through,\u201d he explained. Only then did the wound begin to heal.<\/p>\n
In 2013, 20 years after his captivity, he returned to the former prison camp. \u201cI returned in tears,\u201d he recounted. It wasn\u2019t about settling scores but a decisive step toward inner liberation.<\/p>\n
Today, his story embodies the message that Pope Leo XIV is proposing for the Jan. 1 World Day of Peace. \u201cPeace must be lived, cultivated, and protected,\u201d the priest emphasized, adding: \u201cEvil is overcome with good, not with revenge or weapons.\u201d Quoting the pontiff, he recalled that \u201cgoodness is disarming.\u201d <\/p>\n
This story\u00a0was first published\u00a0by ACI Prensa, CNA\u2019s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.<\/p>\n