Report from the meeting of the Joint Commission of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference and the Serbian Orthodox Church

The theme of the meeting was The attitude of Archbishop Stepinac towards the Serbian Orthodox Church from 1941 to 1945.

The fourth meeting of the Joint Commission of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference and the Serbian Orthodox Church was held at the Bishop's Palace in Pozega, Croatia, on the 20th and 21st April 2017, the task of which was to jointly consider the figure of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac before, during and after the Second World War. The theme of the meeting was "The attitude of Archbishop Stepinac towards the Serbian Orthodox Church from 1941 to 1945".

On behalf of the Holy See the meeting was attended and presided by Fr. Bernardo Ardura, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, as well. The Croatian Bishops' Conference consisted of  the Zagreb Archbishop Josip Cardinal Bozanic; Msgr. Ratko Peric, Bishop of Mostar-Duvno; Msgr. Antun Škvorčević, Bishop Pozeg as well as of scientific advisors at the Croatian Institute of History Dr. Jure Kristo and Dr. Mario Jareb. As representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church the meeting was attended by Porphirije Peric, Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana, Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro, Bishop Irinej Bulović of Backa and Bishop Jovan Ćulibrk of Slavonia.

Ambassador Dr. Darko Tanaskovic, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Serbia at UNESCO, was unable to take part in the sessions.  In the capacity of invited expert advisers of the Serbian Orthodox Commission the meeting was attended by Dr. Radmila Radic, scientific adviser at the Institute for Recent History of Serbia in Belgrade; Dr. Ljubodrag Dimic, Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, and Dr. Milan Koljanin, senior research associate at the Institute for Contemporary History in Belgrade.

The fifth meeting of the Joint Commission will be held in Podgorica, Montenegro,  on the 7th and 8th June 2017, on the theme "Archbishop Stepinac and communist persecution from 1945 to 1960".

Source: Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church