Slavo Kukić: I learned a lot from Fra Luka Markešić

People like Fra Luka could have been a kind of wind in our sails, but Bosnia and Herzegovina will endure without him too; it has endured much worse times, said academic Slavo Kukić, professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Mostar, for the BiH news agency Patria (NAP) after today's commemoration of Fra Luka Markešić.

The prominent Franciscan, professor at the Franciscan Theology in Sarajevo and president of the HNV of BiH, passed away last Thursday after 11 PM in Sarajevo, at the age of 77.

More than 200 people attended his final farewell yesterday at the Bare cemetery in Sarajevo, including many personalities from public life in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A commemorative gathering organized by the Croatian National Council and the Monastery of St. Ante was held today in the amphitheater of the FBiH Parliament, writes NAP.

- I must admit that our society is not free from the logic of the neoliberal concept, and that concept does not care about others. It is strictly interest-oriented, inherently deeply selfish, without social sensitivity... And, when you have such a concept, it is easy to assume that people like Fra Luka or those similar to him are born and formed less in such an environment – says academic Kukić.

- It will take many people to be born to have another Fra Luka Markešić again. In the future, one should not expect a flood of personalities who combine intellectual energy, human dignity, love for man in the broadest sense, regardless of confession. But, nevertheless, I would not say that after the funeral of Fra Luka, from whom I myself learned a lot, the foundation of BiH has been touched – said Kukić, writes NAP.