Rome, (IKA) – Pope Benedict XVI will visit Croatia on June 4 and 5. He is returning to Croatia because as a cardinal he visited it three times in the past twenty years. The Pope certainly feels at home in Croatia. Croatia is a country with deep Christian and Catholic roots, faithfully guarded during difficult times, which were in abundance, particularly during the last century. For this fidelity, the Holy See has reciprocated with sincere closeness and solidarity, wrote Fr. Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office and Radio Vatican, in the introduction to this week’s Octava dies, a program of the Vatican Television Center.
Croatia is now facing the challenge of secularization: the family and young people are crucial areas for coping with this challenge. Therefore, the central moments of the Pope’s visit will be his participation in the First Encounter of Croatian Catholic Families and the Youth Encounter, to be held every other year. The Pope’s visit will have the motto of “Together in Christ.” In the world when communications are multiplying and penetrating life, encounter and fellowship among people are increasingly difficult, noted Fr. Lombardi.
The Church relies on Christ to support the unity and mission of the family, and hope among the young in a better future. The Church also serves the human and Croatian community, which, since it has weathered the turbulent period of the dissolution of Yugoslavia, is now preparing, as it enters the European Union, for deeper involvement in the community of European nations. The Pope wishes and encourages this to happen, bringing the wealth of culture and the grand tradition of the Croatian people, said Lombardi.
Great figures continue to inspire the Croatian path, such as the Jesuit and scholar Ruđer Bošković, the young beatus Ivan Merz and, especially, the great pastor, martyr and beatus Alojzije Cardinal Stepinac, and we add Saints Leopold Mandić, Nikola Tavelić and Marko Stjepan Krizin (Marcus Stephanus Crisinus) and the Blessed Jakov Zadranin and many known and unknown who were pleasing to God, not to mention all the Croats who have significantly contributed to the enrichment of European and world culture and science. Together with Christ, with the Pope, with confidence and courage, it is necessary to look to the future, concluded Lombardi.