ZAGREB, 28 April 2022 - The president of the Croatian Catholic charity Caritas and Varaždin Bishop, Bože Radoš, announced on Thursday that the Vatican's Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, would visit Croatia on 10-12 May.

The Croatian Bishops Conference (HBK) in August 2021 invited Cardinal Parolin to visit Croatia on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the ratification of agreements signed between the Holy See and Croatia, and the 30th anniversary of Croatia's recognition.

Speaking at a news conference after the 64th plenary session of the HBK, Radoš said that Parolin's visit had been confirmed by the Apostolic Nunciature in Croatia.

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ZAGREB, 29 Jan 2022 - Pope Francis on Saturday decided on the retirement of Cardinal Vinko Puljić, the Archbishop of Sarajevo, who would be succeeded by the current coadjutor archbishop, Tomo Vukšić, the Vatican reported.

In September 2020, Cardinal Puljić offered his resignation when he turned 75. He has been at the helm of the Archdiocese of Sarajevo since 6 January 1991, and became a cardinal in 1994. He is the first Catholic dignitary in Bosnia and Herzegovina to be declared a cardinal.

Vukšić, born in the village of Studenci in Herzegovina in 1954, became the coadjutor archbishop in Sarajevo two years ago.

He was ordained the first military ordinary in Bosnia and Herzegovina at a ceremony held in Mostar's cathedral in April 2011. He is a professor at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Sarajevo, and a lecturer at at the postgraduate studies at the Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb.

ZAGREB, 18 Dec, 2021 - Activists of the Workers' Front party on Saturday addressed reporters outside the Sisak General Hospital, by a newly installed sculpture representing Virgin Mary and Child Jesus, calling for the termination of agreements between Croatia and the Vatican.

The sculpture, installed outside the entrance to the new hospital block in early December, was a gift to the hospital by the Sisak Diocese.

Workers' Front activist David Bilić said the sculpture "is a tasteless expression of the wealth of the Catholic Church outside an earthquake-damaged hospital that has still not been reconstructed."

"The Workers' Front believes too much money is set aside for the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia, as a result of the Vatican agreements, signed on this day 25 years ago," Bilić said, adding that the party believed the Vatican agreements should be cancelled.

He said that the situation in society had changed due to the economic crisis that was even more felt in the earthquake-struck Sisak-Moslavina County.

The coronavirus pandemic is making the situation worse, not to speak of earthquake damage, while work on removing it is not starting, he said.

"Some will say that the Catholic Church justifies the donations through its charity work," Bilić said, noting that 11% of that money is used for charity work.

"The rest is used for other needs of the Church, which can secure quite a sufficient amount of money for its financing from alms and Vatican sources," Bilić said, with RF activists calling for the reconstruction of the earthquake-hit county to begin as soon as possible.

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ZAGREB, 15 Nov 2021 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović met with Pope Francis during his visit to the Vatican on Monday, discussing the situation in the Western Balkans and Europe, as well as vaccination against COVID-19.

Speaking to reporters after a private audience with the pontiff, Milanović said he agreed with the Pope's view that vaccination is "an act of love for oneself." He added that he does not think this is different from the recent statement made by Croatian bishops, who said that vaccination should be voluntary and testing non-invasive.

"In the Vatican, everyone has been vaccinated, and it appears that a scientific view on this matter prevails, although face masks are not being worn much," Milanović said.

He said he had a problem with COVID restrictions because they were not based on science. "The vaccines have been invented by several brilliant minds, while this nonsense with anti-epidemic measures has nothing to do with science. In Austria, they are banning unvaccinated people from leaving their homes as of today. What is that? Is that science or are those methods reminiscent of the 1930s?"

Milanović called on citizens to get vaccinated but noted that they also have the right to be protected from arbitrariness. "I am wondering where are human rights champions, where is the European Court of Human Rights, which has the ambition to tailor countries' constitutions? They are nowhere to be seen," he said, adding that he would like to hear the Court's opinion on the rights of people who are being forbidden to leave their homes because they are not vaccinated.

Milanović said that Pope Francis has "interesting views on Brussels as a somewhat alienated center of power that does not understand that European states are historically nation-states."

He said that the Pope presented him with a mosaic showing a winegrower picking grapes, as well as his works and speeches, while he presented the Pope with a 14th-century Glagolitic missal written by Duke Novak.

Milanović also met with the Holy See's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. They discussed the situation in Croatia's neighborhood, notably in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"We discussed things that are troubling us and that we can perhaps resolve better with the Vatican's assistance. Their view suits us. They can help. There are limits, of course, but we can also help ourselves because we are members of the EU and NATO," Milanović said.

"As long as the (Bosnian) Croats insist that they should not be deprived of the right to choose their representative and as long as they look to Sarajevo, you can be happy. Once the Croats turn away from Sarajevo and say they are no longer interested, that will send chills down your spine. An educated guess is that the Croats still care about Bosnia and Herzegovina," Milanović said.

He said he has invited the Pope to visit Croatia. "He is quite old, and I'm not sure if he should be a globe-trotter after turning 80, but he is absolutely welcome to Croatia."

Croatia's ambassadorial post in the Vatican has been vacant for a year now, and this issue has been raised by Cardinal Gallagher, Milanović said.

Asked by the press whether he would confirm Davor Stier as the new ambassador to the Holy See, the president said he was following the rules of conduct, including one that the names of future ambassadors are not made public.

Milanović said that Stier used to be an editor of an Ustasha newspaper in Argentina. "You don't know that. Do you know that he is from Argentina? He was politically active there. One of the last things he was doing there was editing an Ustasha newspaper. And what was he doing there? He certainly wasn't selling ice cream," he told Croatian reporters covering his visit.

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ZAGREB, 15 Nov 2021 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović had a private one-on-one meeting with Pope Francis in Vatican City on Monday, at the start of his official visit to the Vatican.

Gift exchange is customary at the end of private audiences and according to unofficial sources, Milanović will present the Pope with a 14th-century Glagolitic missal, the Missal of Duke Novak.

The letters of the missal were later used for the first Croatian printed book Missale Romanum Glagolitice.

The missal was written by the royal knight Novak Disislavić as a pledged gift to a church, where he was to be buried after death.

During his official visit to the Vatican, Milanović is also scheduled to hold talks with the Holy See Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the Secretary for Relations with States, Bishop Paul Richard Gallagher.

The talks are expected to focus on relations between the Holy See and Croatia, the situation in Southeast Europe, notably Bosnia and Herzegovina, climate change, and "Laudato si", the second encyclical of Pope Francis.

Milanović is also expected to visit the Pontifical Croatian College of St. Jerome.

This is Milanović's second visit to the Holy See. The first visit took place in 2012 when he was prime minister and when he met the then Pope Benedict XVI.

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ZAGREB, 12 Nov 2021 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović travels to the Vatican on Monday for an official visit, during which he will have a private audience with Pope Francis, the President's Office announced in a press release on Friday.

The President will be accompanied by his wife, Sanja Musić Milanović.

Milanović is scheduled to meet with the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the Secretary for Relations with States within the Holy See's Secretariat of State, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.

He will visit the the Pontifical Croatian College of St Jerome, where he is due to meet with the Rector, Don Marko Đurin, and Croatian students of Catholic universities in Rome.

The former Croatian President, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, met with Pope Francis in 2015 and presented him with a Croatian national football team jersey. She invited him to visit Croatia.

Pope Francis has never been to Croatia during the eight years of his pontificate.

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ZAGREB, June 8 (Hina) - The Movement for a Secular Croatia civil initiative and three NGOs on Monday sent political parties open letters asking them if they think the agreements between the Holy See and Croatia should be revised or rescinded in order to protect the constitutionally guaranteed secularism.

The query was sent to the political parties running in the July 5 parliamentary election and the replies, expected by June 20, will be made public.

The NGOs say a number of problems stem from the agreements, such as the annual state budget expense of HRK 1.2 billion and the status of religious education.

They also say the agreements undermine the equality of citizens under the law and that the Catholic Church has a privileged position in relation to other religious communities in Croatia, and consider it problematic that it does not pay tax on its commercial activities.

They say that any treaty or law which is above the obligation to comply with the constitution paves the way for undermining Croatia's sovereignty as a law-based state and the constitution as its fundamental legal act.

This is not the first time Pope Francis has been introduced to Hajduk Split.

Protesters demand the annulment of agreements signed by Croatia and the Catholic Church.

Photos show Pope Francis with Hajduk’s scarf at the St. Peters Square