Giving a sermon during mass, Zadar Archbishop Ivan Prendja said that Croatians were looking forward to the future of the Croatian people that was being integrated into the community of nations of Europe.
In that community we as Christians "must show our self-respect as well as openness to peoples with whom we made contacts in the past. We, however, must never forget our spiritual and cultural heritage," the dignitary said.
"In our everyday life we are trying to contribute to the progress of our homeland, always sticking to Christ's faith," the vice-president of the Croatian Catholic Bishops' Conference said.
Commenting on the past of the Croatian people, Prendja said that the history of the Croatian people was not always sinless, or without omissions and infidelities in the personal and social life. He stressed that this had been particularly noticed in the recent past.
The archbishop called on the faithful not to forget the sacrifice of Croatian soldiers who gave their lives for the present-day free Croatian state.
"The Church together with its faithful is called to encounter challenges of the present time," he said advocating the respect for human life from conception to death and the dignity of family and the sacredness of marriage as against what he called artificial partnerships that were knocking at the door of the legislature.
He also warned about problems of a lack of ethics in acquiring wealth and in fair salaries which should be paid to workers.
Croatian Defence and Interior Ministers Berislav Roncevic and Ivica Kirin were also on the pilgrimage.