In Zagreb, celebrating the Christmas Eve Mass in a packed St Stephen's Cathedral, Archbishop Josip Bozanic said that the hope of Christmas was needed in Croatian society in the present time of uncertainty and fear of the future.
"Christmas tells us that hope exists, that people have someone to put their trust in, because God stretches forth his hand to each of us in all circumstances of life: in joy and in hope, in sorrow and in anxiety, in need, poverty, abandonment, discouragement and loneliness," the archbishop said, calling on the faithful to "let Jesus fill the voids of your lives with his meaning, warm the coldness of the heart with the warmth of his love and enrich your loneliness with his presence."
Christmas was also celebrated among Croatian Catholic communities abroad, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro.
The Christmas Eve Mass in the Cathedral of the Heart of Jesus in Sarajevo was led by Archbishop Vinko Puljic, in St Anthony's Church in Belgrade by Archbishop Stanislav Hocevar, and in Kotor's Cathedral by Bishop Ilija Janjic.
The Midnight Mass in Belgrade was attended by President Tomislav Nikolic, representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church and other religious communities in the country, and members of the diplomatic corps, and was aired live by the national broadcaster RTS.