Zagreb, (IKA) – On Saturday, September 20, the secretary of state of the Holy See, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, together with members of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, conducted the ceremony of the blessing of the building site and foundation stone of the Croatian Conference of Bishops Building in Ksaver, Zagreb. The president of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Marin Srakić, said in an address that the day had finally come when the need and dream long held by our Church, for our bishops’ conference to have its own roof over its head, would soon be realized. Since the establishment of the Bishops’ Conference of Yugoslavia in 1918, this institution did not have its own building but shared the premises of the Archdiocesan Residence in Zagreb. After the founding of the Croatian Conference of Bishops in 1993, the Office of the Secretariat General and other offices havae been located in various places in Zagreb, primarily in the Kaptol section. Commenting on how all this would reflect on its operations, Archbishop Srakić expressed the hope that the new building would improve the operations of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, for the benefit of our Church and nation. On this occasion, Archbishop Srakić expressed recognition and gratitude to all those who had contributed to the implementation of this project. He particularly thanked the Italian Conference of Bishops, which had made the largest contribution through many years of donations. After the general secretary of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Msgr. Vjekoslav Huzjak read the charter aloud, Cardinal Bertone blessed the foundation stone and building site. The ceremony was attended by the minister of finance, Ivan Šuker; a representative of Prime Minister Sanader; the mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandić; prebendaries and canons of the Cathedral Chapter of Zagreb, priests and other invited persons. The building was designed by Prof. Nenad Fabijanić and the main contractor is the company Zagorje – Tehnobeton of Varaždin.