The Pope to say cabbage-patch Mass in Sarajevo

SARAJEVANS of all religious hues (including atheists) are preparing for the arrival on Thursday of the latest celebrity tourist, the Pope. While the Bosnian Serbs surrounding the city mutter dark warnings of a Catholic conspiracy and the United Nations rumbles about the Pontiff's safety, residents are hoping, against the odds, that the Papal visit will somehow bring peace.

'We can hardly wait to see him because we think it may mean the end of the war,' said Haris, a young Muslim soldier nursing an espresso at a cafe in the town centre. 'I don't mean the war will stop the minute he gets here, but it will be a big plus for the city. He's one of the most important people in the world.' His words were echoed by Catholics and Orthodox Serbs. 'It will mean a lot to all of us,' said Sister Ilijana, who runs a free clinic at a convent in Sarajevo. 'We are all expecting his contribution to bringing peace.' And Dragana, a Serb housewife: 'I'm glad he's coming. I think that things will start to get better.'

The Pope is due to say Mass in Zetra stadium, site of the Olympic speed skating events in 1984. From the hastily built wooden platform, he will have a good view of Mount Trebevic, home to an extensive and deadly network of Serbian trenches, and of the makeshift graveyard nearby. It is a very Sarajevan scene: the grassy banks around the old ice circuit have been cultivated by Bosnian policemen guarding the site, and tomatoes, cabbages and sweet corn sprout from these wartime allotments.

The altar backdrop, razor wire, sandbags, and the gutted hulk of the indoor rink, where Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won Olympic gold in 1984 stand between the Pope and the other Serbian front lines.

Hundreds of people, most of them Catholics, braved stifling heat to attend mass at Sarajevo Cathedral on Sunday morning and hear the Papal Nuncio's sermon. 'There are still some difficulties, and a final decision (on the Pope's trip) has not been made yet,' he told the congregation. 'I would like to confirm it, but we just have to pray for his arrival.'

At the city's main mosque, a short walk away, Hajji Muhamed Bekric, the 81-year-old caretaker, was hoping for a chance to show the Pope around the building. 'I think it's very nice the Pope is coming here,' he said.

'We like it when somebody that important comes here as our guest; he can see how the city has been destroyed, and the mosque.' The gorgeous carvings remain over the front door, though, as Mr Bekric explained wistfully: 'It was much nicer before it was shelled.'

Mr Bekric said he will watch the open-air Mass on television, but Emir, an atheist of Muslim extraction, plans to go with his friends, there's nothing else to do, after all. He does not hold out much hope for peace - 'I don't believe in miracles' - but is still glad of the visit, and of the poster advertising it. The Pope looms, arms outstretched, from a Bosnia-shaped cloud dotted with Catholic churches, with the logo: 'You are not alone. We are with you.'

Stolen posters now adorn the walls of Sarajevan dope-smokers, including Emir, who realised that with a few strokes of a pen the amended caption reads: 'You are not stoned. We roll with you.'

In Pale, capital of the self-declared Bosnian Serb Republic, officials present a dismissive front. 'We are indifferent towards the visit of this idiot,' said Dragan Davidovic, Minister for Religious Affairs.

Yet they refuse to give the security guarantees sought by the Vatican and the United Nations. 'We cannot guarantee the Pope's safety only because we can't guarantee what the Muslims will do,' Mr Davidovic said.

The Pontiff still seems willing to risk it.

As the Archbishop of Sarajevo, Vinko Puljic, said: 'He will be as safe as the rest of us . . . the local authorities will try to make things as secure as possible, and as for the people who are going to Mass, everyone here has learnt to look after themselves.'