Sarajevo, May 20, 2003 (IKA) — In an interview with the Sarajevo Catholic weekly Katolicki tjednik (May 18, 2003), Archbishop Ivan Devcic of Rijeka spoke of the sense of kinship that the Holy Father has demonstrated toward the Croatian people, pointing out that the Pope’s third apostolic visit to the little nation of Croatia and its Catholic Church will also be his jubilee 100th foreign journey. Archbishop Devcic sees one possible reason for this in the fact that the Pope is a Slav, and the Croats are the most Catholic Slavic nation besides the Poles. The archbishop also expressed the opinion that the Holy Father is profoundly aware of what the Catholic Church did for the Croatian nation during the communist period. The Church in Croatia followed the same line that the Pope and Cardinal Wyszynski followed in Poland. “I think that the Pope recognized the spirit of Croatian Catholicism and perceived its true essence,” said Archbishop Devcic, because the Church among the Croats was not swayed by arguments that Catholicism is nationalistic etc. Instead, the Catholicism among the Croatian people provides a foundation for genuine patriotism. The contribution by the Catholic Church to the endurance and identity of the Croatian people, in the opinion of Archbishop Devcic, may be related to the Pope’s reasons for his third visit. Archbishop Devcic believes that another of the reasons for this visit may be that the Pope is a “Marian Pope” and the Croatian people’s veneration for the Blessed Virgin Mary is well known. The archbishop also noted that we are immensely indebted to Pope John Paul II for his support when we needed it the most but also for telling us what we had to do.