Vinko Puljić

Cardinal Puljić has publicly rejected the reform proposals of Germany's Synodal Way, including the blessing of same-sex couples, calling them 'exotic ideas' alien to a Church that survived communism. He said in 2021 that discussion is possible on any subject, but 'based on the Gospel and not based on secularism and relativism', and that he 'cannot accept such views'.

Cardinal Puljić's public discourse stresses a return to 'the original Gospel' and the centrality of sacrifice in the life of a Church shaped by persecution. No public statement by him on the traditional Latin Mass or Traditionis custodes has been found.

During the Bosnian war Cardinal Puljić remained in besieged Sarajevo, worked for peace and helped thousands of refugees. In later years his public interventions have focused on the rights of Bosnia's Catholics, the impossibility for displaced Croats to return and what he sees as the international community's neglect of Catholics' claim to equal citizenship.

Made a cardinal by John Paul II in 1994, Puljić has criticised the German Synodal Way but not Pope Francis personally, saying that if consulted he would present 'the opinion of the suffering Church'. Francis kept him in office beyond the age of 75 and accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Sarajevo in January 2022.

Cardinal Puljić took part in landmark interreligious meetings during the Bosnian war, including a 1993 Catholic-Orthodox-Jewish-Muslim gathering in Sarajevo, and sits in the country's interreligious council. He has also voiced strong concerns, saying in 2015 that Sarajevo had become 'solely a Muslim city' and that spreading tolerance beyond religious leaders remains difficult.

During the war, Cardinal Puljić's radio and written messages were well received by Catholics, Muslims and others. He has remained an outspoken interviewee on the situation of Bosnia's Catholics and on Church reform, in a direct but classical register.