Zagreb (IKA) – All three visits by Pope John Paul II were of exceptional significance for Croatia, particularly the postwar visits, when he provided great support to Croatia as a country and beatified Cardinal Alojzije Stepianc, according to Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan Jovan Pavlović of Zagreb-Ljubljana and All of Italy.

Metropolitan Jovan, who led the delegation of the Serbian Orthodox Church at the Pope’s funeral in the Vatican, stated in an interview for the Zagreb daily newspaper Jutarnji list, published on April 11, that he thought that the Serbian media that wrote that the Pope had beatified an “Ustasha” were incorrect in their criticism. He noted that they had not come forward while there was an open process for gathering documents regarding Stepinac’s beatification and while there still was an opportunity for official communication and commentary. “When the process of beatification is closed, they have no right to criticize,” emphasized Metropolitan Jovan, who received tumultuous applause when John Paul II greeted him at the Pontifical Mass held in Osijek in 2003.

In response to a question about the attitude of the Serbian Orthodox Church and his own personal attitude toward Cardinal Stepinac, the metropolitan said that Stepinac’s trial was “in an exceptional situation that was clear to all. That was Tito’s regime and who could oppose the course of the government! Was that a democratic system in which people could present their arguments and precisely establish what is and what is not? According to Christian ethics and morality, every person who does good should be rewarded and respected, and who violates human and divine morality must answer to the law in competent courts.”