Since the Croatian public has repeatedly heard and read these days about a dispute between the Diocese of Poreč-Pula and the Benedictine Abbey of Praglia in Italy regarding property rights related to Church grounds in the territory of the Parish of Dajla in said diocese, we consider it necessary to address, first of all, the faithful and then the entire Croatian public in order to contribute genuine insight into the actual situation and obviate an inappropriate and misleading approach, which would be harmful to our entire society.
This fairly complicated issue should be viewed primarily as within the Church, without ignoring the other aspects. It originated from the conduct of the fascist and then communist regimes, which persecuted persons considered by them to be unsuitable, abolishing fundamental human rights and confiscating the properties of individuals and institutions, among whom were the Benedictines in Dajla.
In fact, without going into the decisions of the Croatian judicial bodies and the reasons for these decisions, the fact remains that in the year 1999 the Benedictine property belonged to the Parish of Dajla in Poreč and the Diocese of Pula. Shortly thereafter, the Diocese and Benedictine Abbey of Praglia, as two ecclesial legal entities, well aware of what happened concerning the confiscated and returned assets, attempted to find the best way for that which had been returned to be fairly distributed, on the basis of canonical regulations. Not wanting in any way to call the Osimo and Rome Agreements into question, the Church subjects exclusively wanted to arrive at justice, with understandable efforts by both sides to advocate their own interests.
After the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life contributed to the resolution of the dispute, there was an agreement between the Diocese of Poreč-Pula and the Benedictine Abbey of Praglia to divide the property in half. This agreement was signed by the interested parties in Rome on May 17, 2006. Since the interested parties were not able to implement the agreed division, in 2008 the Holy Father appointed a commission of cardinals, with the goal of implementing the previous agreement between the Diocese of Poreč-Pula and the Benedictine Abbey of Praglia. In November 2010, the commission of cardinals submitted the results of their work to the Holy Father, upon which he based his decision.
It is not necessary here to present all the possible reasons that led the Bishop of Poreč-Pula, Msgr. Ivan Milovan, not to sign the final document, which concludes several years of negotiations. However, it is necessary to say that the Holy Father has appointed a commissioner as the signatory of that document in order to implement internal Church decisions, which in no way were intended to be detrimental to the Diocese of Poreč-Pula. On the contrary, without such agreements unclear relations would have remained among the institutions within the Church, which would not have contributed to growth in the evangelical spirit.
We bishops shall continue, while respecting the diversity of attitudes and opinions in the debates, to foster and develop Church unity. We remain steadfast in the unity of the episcopal ministry, particularly regarding respect for the decisions by the Holy Father and our love for the Holy Father, the Holy See and various Church institutions, advocating justice and the elimination of everything that could undermine peace among the faithful, nations and states. As demonstrated many times in the past, only guided by truth and righteousness can we bear witness to our love for the Croatian homeland.

The Permanent Council of the Croatian Conference of Bishops

Zagreb, August 3, 2011