A reviving presence

The archdiocese of Belgrade was officially re-established on 29 October 1924, after the signing of a concordat between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Serbia ten years earlier. Eighty years after that event, which officially restored the Catholic presence in Serbia after the interruption following the Turkish invasions, the diocese of Belgrade has celebrated a special jubilee year with meetings of cultural, religious and ecumenical type. The celebrations will officially end on 6-7 December. The archbishop of Belgrade, Stanislaw Hocevar , who also chairs the Yugoslav Bishops’ Conference, wished that the occasion be also used to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of Vatican Council II and the election of the first bishop of Belgrade eighty years ago. The celebrations were also an occasion to reflect on the historical and religious heritage of Catholicism in Serbia and in the Balkans.RENEWED ATTENTION TO EUROPE. After the horrors of the ethnic war of the Nineties, it seems that the Union of Serbia and Montenegro wishes to decouple itself from its recent past and project itself towards united Europe. It may be pure chance, but the first audience that Pope Benedict XVI granted to a foreign head of state after his return from Castelgandolfo in September was with the Serbian President, Boris Tadic. The director of the Vatican Press Room Joaquin Navarro-Valls, in a press briefing on that occasion, commented on the meeting as follows: “Benedict XVI expressed the wish that a visit to Serbia may take place in future”. Referring to the contents of the talks between the Pope and Tadic, Navarro added that “during the meeting, which lasted 25 minutes, President Tadic described to the Pope the current situation of the Serb Republic. Discussion focused in particular on the need for the education of youth, especially in schools”. Tadic himself, speaking with journalists, said that “in our discussions with the Pope we made a point of discussing the values of Kosovo, and of the protection of those values. The defence of the presence of the Christian community in the region – he emphasized – has great importance in this perspective. Without people, without believers, there can be no Christian community, no presence of a Christian tradition”. Tadic was specifically alluding to the violent clashes that has erupted between the Christian minority in Kosovo and the Albanian majority of Muslim religion in the previous year, with tit-for-tat attacks on churches and mosques. The autonomist ambitions of the region are still a breeding ground for tensions in the area. Tadic said in this regard: “Kosovo ought to have something less than total independence and something more than autonomy, if all its communities, all its religions, are to be protected”. The invitation to the Pope to visit Serbia should be seen in the context of the desire for normalization: the Holy See is an institutional, as well as religious, presence that is esteemed and authoritative. It is seen as a “bridge” for Serbia’s recognition by the countries of the EU. THE SITUATION OF CATHOLICS IN SERBIA. If the esteem and authoritativeness of the Church are not placed in doubt in reformist political circles, that is not only due to the wish to cultivate an ally for the country’s admission to the EU. Archbishop Stanislaw Hocevar of Belgrade has for years been playing an active role of dialogue and rapprochement with the Orthodox hierarchy, in order to support the difficult process of national pacification in the region. The task is not easy, because the country is still beset by considerable difficulties, especially in economic and social terms. Gross domestic product has been growing over the last two years, and now stands at around 4%, but the population under the poverty threshold is almost 30%, inflation is running close to 10% and the unemployed, especially among the young, is of the order of 20-25% depending on area. Out of 8 million inhabitants, Catholics account for roughly 500,000, 6% of the population. Caritas intervenes with programmes supported by Italian, German and American dioceses, as well as by Catholic humanitarian organizations of aid to the young churches, but the needs are great. Church circles in Belgrade say that “the laity in the country are beginning to make their voice heard at the social and cultural level, and that we have nothing to complain about as a result of the democratic changes taking place”. In the near future a chapel embellished with mosaics by Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, expert in oriental art and professor in Rome, will be inaugurated. These are steps in the right direction, but General Mladic continues to cast a shadow over the conscience of the country: he still remains to be captured and handed over to the International Penal Tribunal in The Hague.