Contracts with the Holy See were not the topic of conversation with Pope Benedict XVI and Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, stated Prime Minister Zoran Milanović in the Vatican, who believes that these contracts should be respected.
The Prime Minister added that Croatia annually pays a certain amount to the Catholic Church according to the contract that exists between the Republic of Croatia and the Holy See, and he believes that this is not a bad thing. What has been signed, has been signed. The Croatian side generally adheres to it, we have some arrears from 10 years ago, but it generally adheres correctly, said Milanović.
The Prime Minister said that he spoke with the Pope for about thirty minutes in a private meeting, discussing topics from Christians in Syria, the state of the world, the economic crisis, and the history of Croatia and the region. He presented him with Strossmayer’s Missal, a reprint of a photograph from the Album of Franz Thiard de Laforest Sacred Objects of Dalmatia from the 19th century, while he received a fountain pen as a gift from the Pope. Regarding the property dispute over Dajla, the Prime Minister said that this case is very important to the Vatican.
