Zagreb (IKA) – On the day of the funeral of Pope John Paul II, Friday, April 8, the Croatian Post Office presented and issued a memorial postage stamp: “Karol Wojtyla (1920) – Pope John Paul II (2005).

“This man in white, circling the world, impressed all of us with his endless energy and calm, which he spread in our restless world,” said the president of the Croatian Postal Administration, Milan Skoblar, about the Pope. He also mentioned that the Croatian Postal Service had commemorated the Pope’s three pastoral visits to Croatia with stamps. “This is the fourth time that our stamps have thanked Pope John Paul II for everything that he did for our Croatian state, for our Croatian nation and in gratitude to a person who truly believed in the good in each person and championed a genuine and better world order,” said Skoblar.

A member of the commission for the choice of the motif, artistic content and graphic design of the postage stamps in the Republic of Croatia, Željka Čorak, noted that this man who had invested all his strength in the general good became the most human when he mastered his own suffering and weakness. He spent himself to the last moment, said Čorak.

In addition to the secretary of state for traffic, Dražen Brglec, and the deputy minister for postal services and telecommunications, Darko Dvornik, the presentation was also attended by representatives from the Zagreb Archdiocesan See: Auxiliary Bishop Valentin Pozaić and Prelate Vladimir Stanković.

Bishop Pozaić thanked and congratulated the Croatian Postal Service for this beautiful stamp commemorating Pope John Paul II. Msgr. Luca Lorusso, a consultant to the Apostolic Nuncio in Croatia, expressed the gratitude of the Holy See on behalf of Nuncio Francisco Javier Lozano.

The nominal value of this rectangular stamp in memory of the Pope is 2.30 kunas. The design is signed by Sanja Rešček, an artist and designer from Zagreb. The famous photograph of the Pope is the work of Gabriel Bouys (photograph France Presse) and the printing of the stamp was entrusted to the printer Zrinski from Čakovec. The stamp comes in a sheets of 20, and is accompanied by a First Day Cover (FDC).