Mesic recently stated that Kosor had joined the HDZ only in 1995, not because she accepted the party's platform but because she saw a father in the late president Franjo Tudjman. This, Mesic said, carried no political weight either for her party or the voters.
Mesic's statement provoked reactions, with Kosor saying that she was surprised that Mesic was losing control so soon.
Explaining his statement, Mesic reiterated that Kosor had joined the HDZ in 1995 after she had been invited to a meeting with the then president Franjo Tudjman.
"She said herself that she decided to join the HDZ only after she had talked with President Tudjman, that she saw a father in him, clearly a father in the political sense, and nobody meant a biological father, just as I was not referring to her family affairs in my statement," Mesic said.
"I had no intention of insulting Jadranka Kosor. I reiterated what she had said and she must have meant that he (Tudjman) was her political inspiration, just as Savka (Dabcevic Kucar) and Miko (Tripalo) were inspiring figures in the 1971 'Croatian Spring' movement," he added.
Asked to comment on the role of the Church in public life, Mesic said that Croatia was following developments in established democracies and that the Church had its mission and that it was pursuing it wholeheartedly.
It is good that the Church is not interfering in state affairs, but the Church, too, wants us to function as a pluralist society and be able to hold different views on some problems without being enemies because of that, he said.
Today's interview with Croatian Catholic Radio was Mesic's first interview with that radio station.