ZAGREB, March 1 (Hina) - The Church does not want to dramatise the situation, but calls on everybody to be responsible, particularly those who have greater social influence, Archbishop of Zagreb Cardinal Josip Bozanic on Monday said
in response to a reporter who asked him whether the Catholic Church in Croatia was preparing its stand on the serious situation. The Church would like to face the reality and is trying to help as much as it can, the Cardinal said adding that the Croatian society needed patience and responsibility and that the moral of integrity and responsibility should be introduced. The archbishop of the Zagreb Archdiocese held a news conference on Monday in Zagreb on the occasion of the pastoral letter forwarded for this year's Lent and ahead of the forthcoming "ad limina Apostolorum" visit to Rome. Asked whether the Croatian Bishops' Conference would make public its stands prior to the elections in Croatia,
ZAGREB, March 1 (Hina) - The Church does not want to dramatise the
situation, but calls on everybody to be responsible, particularly
those who have greater social influence, Archbishop of Zagreb
Cardinal Josip Bozanic on Monday said in response to a reporter who
asked him whether the Catholic Church in Croatia was preparing its
stand on the serious situation.
The Church would like to face the reality and is trying to help as
much as it can, the Cardinal said adding that the Croatian society
needed patience and responsibility and that the moral of integrity
and responsibility should be introduced.
The archbishop of the Zagreb Archdiocese held a news conference on
Monday in Zagreb on the occasion of the pastoral letter forwarded
for this year's Lent and ahead of the forthcoming "ad limina
Apostolorum" visit to Rome.
Asked whether the Croatian Bishops' Conference would make public
its stands prior to the elections in Croatia, Bozanic answered that
he could not say for the time being whether the Bishops' Conference
would say anything new, except what had been already said in 1990,
since the run-up to the election had not started yet.
Bozanic reiterated that in 1990 Croatian Bishops had issued two
documents, one was forwarded to the clergy, ant the other to the
faithful. These documents contain the Croatian Bishops'
Conference's positions about elections, he recalled.
Speaking about the role of the charity organisation, Caritas,
Bozanic said that none of the church communities should be excluded
from such activities. However, he added, the Church is not a social
institution which wants to solve all problems of the society.
The Church wants the society to be socially organised in order to be
able to solve its problems, Bozanic said, adding that it is more
important to create new jobs than to pull the capital out of
companies.
Asked to comment on an article in a magazine which stated the West
hated Croatia since it was a Catholic country, the Archbishop said
he could not comment on that claim as had not read the article.
We are prone to make general judgements in order to conceal our own
mistakes, he said, adding that it was a characteristic of
totalitarian systems. He explained that the way the West looked at
Croatia was multifaceted, and recalled the message of Pope John
Paul II that Croatia was a part of the West.
(hina) ms