Bosnia Serbs Won’t Guarantee Safety, But Pope Still Plans Sarajevo Trip : Balkans: They believe the Vatican took sides during the breakup of the former Yugoslav federation and is biased in favor of the Croats.

Pope John Paul II said Saturday that he hopes to go ahead this week with a planned visit to Sarajevo, only hours after Bosnian Serbs said they could not guarantee his safety.

“I truly hope, if there are sufficient guarantees for the security of the local population, to be able to go to that city which has been battered--and which is so dear to me--as a pilgrim of peace,” said the pontiff, 74, who plans to arrive in Sarajevo on Thursday.

“I put this trip in the hands of the Virgin Mother and ask her to ensure that all goes ahead without danger to the population,” he said before prayers at the papal summer resort south of Rome.

The Pope’s comments came after a Vatican envoy failed Saturday to win a pledge from Bosnian Serbs to guarantee his security when he visits the Bosnian capital this week.

Radovan Karadzic, president of the self-declared Bosnian Serb state, told the papal envoy that he feared Muslims might attack the Pope and blame the Serbs.

Bosnian Serb leaders have told the Vatican privately that the Pope’s presence in Bosnia is “highly undesirable.” The Orthodox Serbs believe the Vatican took sides in the breakup of the former Yugoslav federation and is biased in favor of the Roman Catholic Croats.

Papal Nuncio Msgr. Francesco Monterisi met Karadzic for two hours in the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale near Sarajevo but left saying only that “it was a very interesting meeting with the president.”