President Milanović at Audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican Invites Him to Visit Croatia

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović and First Lady Sanja Music Milanović are paying an Official visit to the Holy See. After an audience with the Holy Father Pope Francis, and a meeting with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and the Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, President Milanović stated that they discussed topics that concern us and that with the assistance of the Vatican, we can perhaps solve them better since there is understanding.

President Milanović confirmed that he has invited Pope Francis to visit the Republic of Croatia. “The Pope is absolutely welcome in Croatia”, he said.

The President also noted that they discussed vaccination. “Everyone is vaccinated in the Vatican, evidently a scientific view of the issue prevails here, and masks are scarce”.

“I’ve got a problem lately with this madness lacking arguments. I’ve supported this for months, but now I don’t see any sense because it has no scientific base. The invention of a vaccine, which is the result of the work of a number of brilliant minds, cannot be science and this stupidity with the measures. Today in Austria they are prohibiting people who aren’t vaccinated to leave their homes, except to go to work. What’s that? Science?”, President Milanović told the press when asked to comment on the letter of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference related to vaccination.

“I’ve told the citizens to get vaccinated, but they have a right to defend themselves from self-will. Where are human rights advocates? Where is the European Court of Human Rights that has an ambition to tailor the constitutions of other states? They’re not here. The Pope has said – it is an act of love, think of yourself and get vaccinated. I won’t ask you any more if you’re vaccinated. My duty is to get vaccinated if I want to do something good for myself”, President Milanović added.

Asked about the Pope’s view on the situation in the Western Balkans, especially Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, President Milanović said that he discussed this matter with Cardinal Parolin and Archbishop Gallagher. “They are friends willing to help, they know enough, but not everything. Their view is one which suits us, they can help, but there are limits. And we can help ourselves”, the President said, and repeated that he is in favour of a meeting with Serbian President Vučić and Turkish President Erdoğan “to sit down and see whether we as representatives of the nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina can achieve more than second-class diplomats who are making a mess of things in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

“As long as Croats insist on not being deprived of their right to elect their representative and look on to Sarajevo, and they do say that, be happy and may you shudder when Croats turn away from Sarajevo and say they’re not interested in that. An intelligent conclusion is that Croatia still cares for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Let’s not extinguish this”, the President said.

About his meeting with the Holy Father, President Milanović further said that he presented the Pope with a Glagolitic missal, a very precious and excellent book, very important for the Croatian identity. “I told him that the Glagolitic Croatian script had been in use for centuries, long before the Latin alphabet. The few Croats who could write were semiliterate Glagolitic priests who kept up the tradition, the identity”, he said.

“He presented his works, speeches and one work of art to me”, President Milanović said. Asked what message the Pope conveyed to him, he said “it’s too personal” to share it with the public.

There are religious and Church matters where I have no business, it’s not my job. We talked about the region, Europe, Brussels. Pope Francis has interesting views on Brussels as an estranged centre of power that doesn’t realize that European states are historical, national states”, President Milanović replied when asked if they talked about bilateral relations between Croatia and the Holy See. “We talked about Europe’s identity, about problems of administrative management”, President Milanović concluded.

In the remainder of the day, President Milanović visited the Pontifical Croatian College of St. Jerome where he met with the rector Rev. Marko Đurin and the Croatian students studying at Catholic universities in Rome.

PHOTO: © Vatican Media

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas