Croatia's state-run news agency HINA reported Friday that it and a Croatian Catholic news agency had received e-mails threatening to kill Pope John Paul II "in the name of Allah." The e-mails, signed by the "Islamic Front of el-Mujahadeen" and addressed to "the infidels," appeared to have originated in neighboring Bosnia, said Interior Ministry spokeswoman Zinka Bardic. She said Croatian and international police agencies were investigating, but that there was no danger to the pontiff because of the heavy security around him. Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters aboard the pope's plane Saturday that the Vatican receives such threats "from time to time" and turns them over to local authorities. He indicated there would be no changes in the pope's schedule in Croatia. John Paul was holding a Mass on Saturday in Osijek, just over the border from predominantly Orthodox Serbia. Organizers were preparing for up to 200,000 pilgrims from Croatia and Serbia as well as neighboring Bosnia and Hungary.
| Another tiresome "front" making tiresome threats against the usual symbols. With regard to the Pope, they'd better hurry before he kicks it from natural causes. But I'd guess they've got more imagination than they have capability, and they're not very imaginative. |
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