ZAGREB, October 20, 2019 - Several nongovernmental associations and non-parliamentary parties on Saturday staged a rally in Zagreb against Croatia's treaties with the Vatican which they labelled as detrimental.
Activist Sanja Sarnavka said that this was the seventh rally of this kind at which protesters criticised the treaties with Vatican as being in contravention with the interests of Croatia.
She called on both believers and non-believers to read the texts of those treaties more carefully.
The organisers also accused the Croatian authorities of non-transparent allocation of tax payers' money to Church institutions and organisations.
Vesna Puhovski of the Protagora association said that the revision of the Croatia-Vatican treaties can be solved only through dialogue.
She said that the treaties imposed the obligations also on non-believers to finance spiritual needs of the faithful.
Academic Vlatko Silobrčić of the Pametno party said that the Vatican treaties were against secularism in society.
The rally brought together an estimated 300 protesters, including two presidential hopefuls: Katarina Peović and Dalija Orešković.
More news about the status of Catholic Church in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.
