Zagreb, (IKA) — The Press Office of the Croatian Conference of Bishops presented the new official web site of the third pastoral visit by Pope John Paul II to Croatia, www.papa.hr, and its English version, www.pope.hr, on Thursday, May 22, at the Secretariat of the CCB.

The Web pages were prepared by the staff of the Catholic weekly Glas Koncila and will be administered by the staff of the Press Office of the CCB and the Catholic Press Agency IKA-Zagreb. The head of the Press Office of the CCB and editor-in-chief of the official web pages for the Pope’s visit, Prof. Anton Šuljić, presented the web pages where, in addition to current reports on the Pope’s visit, it will be possible to find documents, speeches, the program of the visit in detail, various announcements, reports on related events and photographs. The web pages will also provide useful information on each city that the Pope will visit, press centers and their staffs, the Pope’s two previous visits to Croatia and the Catholic Church in Croatia. Moreover, in cooperation with Croatian Radio Television (HRT), HTnet and CARnet, it will also be possible to watch direct broadcasts of the visit.

The general secretary of the Croatian Conference of Bishops and the national coordinator for the organization of Pope John Paul II’s third apostolic visit to Croatia, Msgr. Vjekoslav Huzjak, spoke about the Holy Father’s great openness toward the media. While still the archbishop of Krakow, he regularly spoke with journalists and media professionals in order to get to know them, find out what they were thinking and also convey his thoughts to them. Msgr. Huzjak mentioned that the Pope’s sees the role of the media as a path for the growth of the person and in this sense is highly cooperative with the various media. Dr. Huzjak also pointed out that the Pope’s third visit to our country within such a short period of time is particularly significant because, despite frail health, the Holy Father will be visiting Croatia for five days, this trip will be the Pope’s hundredth journey outside Italy and will occur during the year of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the his pontificate.