VATICAN: CROATIA OFFICIALLY PRESENTS TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE

VATICAN, Dec 17 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic presented Croatia's gift to the Holy Father, the Vatican, and Rome - the traditional Christmas tree - in St. Peter's Square on Tuesday afternoon. #L# Reporters estimated between 1,500 and 2,000 people had gathered at the square, including 600 pilgrims from Croatia, as well as Croats working and living in Italy. "This tree standing before us is one of the most beautiful we could find in our Croatian forests. We brought it and set it up in St. Peter's Square as a symbolic expression of our love and respect for the Holy Father, as a symbol of our aspiration towards peace, a symbol of cooperation among people and among nations," President Mesic said at the beginning of the ceremony. He took this opportunity to thank the Pope, on his and the Croatian citizens' behalf, "for the support he offered Croatia, for the understanding and the attention he showed when we strived to become a recognised member of the international community". Mesic conveyed the Croatian state leadership's wish that the Pope's health enable him to visit Croatia next spring for the third time, where Mesic said he would be received "warmly and with love". The president of the Croatian Bishops' Conference, Zagreb Archbishop Josip Bozanic, recalled in his address that one European country had been selected each year for the past two decades to donate the Christmas tree adorning the space in front of St. Peter's basilica. "In a certain way this symbolises the universality of the Church in which all peoples find their place," he said. Throughout its history the Croatian people has found a safe stronghold in the Christian faith, having adopted it more than 13 centuries ago, said Bozanic. "It is this connection with Peter's See that has shaped its (the Croatian people's) social and cultural image, grafting it into Europe's big Christian community," he said. The president of the papal commission managing Vatican City State, Edmund Casimir Szoka, said a special connection linked Croatia with Rome and the Holy See - the power of the Catholic faith. At the end of the ceremony two small kids, one of whom was President Mesic's granddaughter, lit small lights on the Christmas tree which, besides silver and gold balls representing the colours of the Vatican, is decorated with red gingerbread hearts bearing the names of Croatian towns. (hina) ha sb