Zagreb, May 12, 2003 (IKA) — “For me, personally, the Pope’s visiting Serbia would not present any problem whatsoever,” said the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Zagreb-Ljubljana and all of Italy, Jovan Pavlović, in an interview with the Rijeka daily newspaper Novi list. He noted that he had met with Pope John Paul II on several occasions and plans to do so again during the Pope’s visit to Osijek on June 7 of this year.

Metropolitan Pavlović has a high opinion of the efforts by the current Roman Catholic Pope concerning ecumenicism and inter-religious dialogue, and he was particularly impressed by their last meeting in Assisi. Metropolitan Pavlović met with the Pope at the conclusion of the Great Jubilee, at which he was serving as the envoy of Patriarch Pavle. “This was something exceptional on the highest level, first as the conclusion of the Great Jubilee as well as the participation of nearly all the Orthodox autocephalous churches with their delegates, the Anglican primate and the envoy of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The entire celebration was an exceptional experience due to the joint ecumenical prayers, the luncheon together and especially because all of us participants had the opportunity to greet the Holy Father in person.”

Recalling his last encounter with the Pope in Assisi in 2002, Metropolitan Pavlović noted that it was “a religious gathering at which the Pope’s spontaneous approach and communication created a positive atmosphere … The Pope succeeded in doing something that none of the great international factors had accomplished. No one had succeeded in gathering so many leaders from the entire world, of differing and mutually conflicting ideologies,” said Metropolitan Pavlović. He also mentioned that the Pope’s personal encounters with individuals made a profound impression, and that during each meeting the Pope “devoted his attention to that person and did not merely make a formal greeting … This meeting in Assisi was miraculous, and the inspiration for it was the Pope. All, and we all have our certain prejudices and our own religious boundaries, participated in this joint engagement for peace in the world,” said Metropolitan Pavlović, noting the Pope’s efforts to promote peace in the world, especially during the end of the communist system, and “for us it is a challenge to preserve Christian values under the circumstances in which the contemporary society finds itself, when Christian morality is in crisis and when it is constantly being attacked.”