During his sermon, the dignitary said that "pitifully, there is no clear willingness to display impartially the truths from our history".
According to him, for centuries Croatia had to be defended from "Venetian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Yugoslav, Nazi, Ustasha, Chetnik, Fascist and Communist oppression". He went on to say that the Communist oppression was performed with the Red Star insignia which many genuine anti-Fascists had to carry against their conviction.
We remember that Red Star having destroyed this country and having assisted aggressors against this country, the bishop said.
The truth should be unequivocally repeated that a big part of Croatia was taken by force and occupied for many years by those who spread an atmosphere of Serbs having been endangered in Croatia and who ignored Croatia's legally-elected institutions, he said.
They had taken by force some of Croatian areas to set up their so-called Krajina in which they destroyed in the most bestial manner all Croatian cultural monuments and assets and cleansed that area of non-Serbs, the dignitary said referring to SAO Krajina, a self-proclaimed Serb-dominated entity within Croatia from 1990 until Croatia's forces liberated it during Operation Storm in August 1995.
All that had happened before the eyes of European observers, Ivas said.
Following all futile attempts to peacefully solve that situation, Storm had to be launched, the bishop said adding that Serb rebel leaders had prepared a mass-scale exodus of local Serbs in the event of the arrival of the Croatian army and organised their departure when that happened.
According to Ivas, his predecessor, the late bishop Srecko Badurina, said that European observes had informed him before Operation Storm that the leader of the local Serb Orthodox Church in Knin had told them that he would call on the Serbs to depart from the area in the event of the attack of Croatian troops, although the then Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Croatian military leaders urged them to stay.
Ivas recalled that the late Bishop Badurina had also be saddened by crimes committed by the Croatian troops and that he had called for repentance, forgiveness and trust.
In his comments on Croatia's preparations to join the European Union, Bishop Ivas said the current European community was suffering from a crisis of values, despite its economic and political advantages.
It is important for our authorities and negotiators to inform thoroughly, timely and objectively the entire Croatian public about not only the course of the EU accession negotiations but also about what some solutions could bring to the future of the state and the nation.
In attendance at the mass were top state leaders, including President Ivo Josipovic, Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor Parliament Speaker Luka Bebic, MPs, high-ranking military officials and many other prominent public figures