Zagreb, August 30, 1999 (IKA) — The authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia denied an entrance visa to retired Archbishop Cardinal Franjo Kuharić of Zagreb, who was supposed to begin his visit to the Subotica Diocese on August 28 and conduct a Mass on Sunday, August 29, at the Marijan shrine of Bunarić. In a statement issued to Croatian Television on August 27, the ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Yugoslavia, Zvonimir Marković, who had planned to meet the cardinal in Subotica, confirmed that Cardinal Kuharić had informed him that he had been denied a visa. Ambassador Marković expressed his conviction that Croatia would sharply protest this decision by the Yugoslav authorities. Cardinal Kuharić received no explanation why his application for a visa was denied. The Croatian press asserts that this concerns a “political/police scandal” that will affect the relations between Zagreb and Belgrade and has upset the Catholics of Vojvodina. Although the Yugoslav authorities denied a visa to Cardinal Kuharić, they issued visas to his driver and steward without any problem. Like all high-ranking Church officials, Cardinal Kuharić has a diplomatic passport but he did not wish to use it to enter the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Bishop Janoš Penzeš of Subotica, who conducted the Mass in Bunarić instead of Cardinal Kuharić, and the Rev. Andrija Kopilović, head of the Marijan shrine of Bunarić, expressed their regrets.