President Milanović Receives Pope Tawadros II During His Pastoral Visit to Croatia
The President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanović received today at the Office of the President His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, who is on a pastoral visit to Croatia.
During the meeting, they exchanged views on the importance of interreligious dialogue and cooperation among Churches, particularly in the context of Coptic-Catholic Friendship Day, observed annually on 10 May, in commemoration of the historic meeting in Rome in 1973, when Pope Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III issued a declaration that brought the theological positions of the two Churches closer together. President Milanović and Pope Tawadros II also discussed the friendly relations between Croatia and Egypt, and the position of the Coptic community in Croatia.
The Coptic community in Croatia numbers around 600 members dispersed throughout the country and is organized through the “Association of the Faithful of the Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Mark.” Nearly the entire community gathered for the Divine Liturgy celebrated according to the Alexandrian Rite by Pope Tawadros II on Sunday, 10 May, at the Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Zagreb’s Šalata neighbourhood.
Pope Tawadros II is the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. The Church traces its origins to St. Mark the Evangelist, the apostle who became the first Bishop and Pope of Alexandria in the first century. The Coptic Orthodox Church belongs to the family of Oriental Orthodox Churches and separated from the other Christian Churches following the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
Prior to the meeting, President Milanović and Pope Tawadros II viewed the exhibition Coptic Traces in Salona: 5th-7th Centuries. The exhibition was organized to mark the visit by the Office of the President of the Republic and the Archaeological Museum in Split.
Accompanying His Holiness Pope Tawadros II at the meeting were Rania Mahmoud Elbanna, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the Republic of Croatia; Bishop Giovanni; Bishop Abraham; Essameldin Mahmoud Aboelfadl Badran, First Secretary at the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the Republic of Croatia; Fr. Emmanuel El Moharaky; Fr. Tadros Riad; and Deacon Jouseph Younan.
President Milanović was accompanied by Bartol Šimunić, Head of the President’s Cabinet; Neven Pelicarić, Adviser to the President for Foreign and European Policy; Jadranka Žarković, Adviser to the President for Education; Zdravko Zima, Special Adviser to the President for Culture; and Ivan Mutavdžić, Assistant Adviser to the President for Foreign and European Policy.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas