Zagreb, March 16, 1999 (IKA) – Today, a delegation from the Croatian Conference of Catholic Bishops led by the president of the Croatian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Josip Bozanić of Zagreb, received a delegation from the Serbian Orthodox Church led by Patriarch Pavle at the Palace of the Archbishop in Zagreb. Later, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church was received by President Franjo Tuđman of the Republic of Croatia at the Presidential Palace. This was the first meeting between the president of the Croatian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, noted Archbishop Bozanić in a brief statement at the conclusion of their meeting. Attending the meeting of the Church delegations, besides Archbishop Bozanić and Patriarch Pavle, were the general secretary of the Croatian Conference of Catholic Bishops and president of the Council for Ecumenicism, Bishop Antun Škvorčević of Požega, Auxiliary Catholic Bishops Josip Mrzljak and Vlado Košić of Zagreb, Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan Jovan of Zagreb-Ljubljana and all of Italy, Serbian Orthodox Episcope (Bishop) Lavrentije of Šabac-Valjevo and Serbian Orthodox Episcope Irinej of Niš. Toward the end of the discussion, the meeting was joined by retired Catholic Archbishop Cardinal Franjo Kuharić of Zagreb. Following the reception with President Tuđman, the members of the delegation of the Serbian Orthodox Church, except for Patriarch Pavle, held a press conference at the Metropolitan Headquarters of Zagreb-Ljubljana in Zagreb. Metropolitan Jovan pointed out on this occasion that the meeting with President Tuđman had been an opportunity “to speak about common problems in a cordial conversation. We believe that this was a historical event and we hope that it will exert a beneficial influence upon the international relations between Serbs and Croats, between Serbs who live in Croatia and Serbs who still wish to return.” Metropolitan Jovan emphasized that the visit by His Holiness Patriarch Pavle had profound ecumenical significance because the desire of the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church is “to organize the most active possible cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church, with the Holy See and all other Christian churches and religious communities.” In meetings with the Croatian representatives of the Catholic Church and government authorities, the representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church presented specific instances of the anxieties experienced by Serbs in Croatia. As explained by Serbian Orthodox Archpriest Milenko Popović of Zagreb, these are “questions concerning the return of our faithful, their rights, exercising the rights that they had before the war and also questions concerning their material existence. What is most essential for us in the Church is a law regulating the denationalization and return of property that was confiscated from the Serbian Orthodox Church during the communist regime.” Journalists were also interested in the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church regarding a solution to the crisis in Kosovo, which was briefly clarified by Episcope Lavrentije: “The Church accepts full autonomy as proposed by official politics.” However, he continued, this is only within the framework of Serbia because “Kosovo is Serbian history, the history of Serbian culture, Serbian spirituality.” He furthermore added that “the official see of the Patriarchate is in Kosovo and we could not become reconciled to allowing the main see of the Church to be located in another country.”