(Dec. 16, 2006) The Vatican on Saturday established diplomatic ties with the Republic
of Montenegro, which became independent from Serbia in June this year following a
referendum. Montenegro's Christian roots date back to the first century. The tiny
Balkan nation had remained united to larger Serbia in the breakup of the former Yugoslavia
in bloody warfare in the early 1990s. The Vatican said that there are some 21,500
Catholics in Montenegro in two dioceses, with about half of them of Albanian origin
and the others of Croatian origin, in two dioceses. Montenegro aspires to eventually
join the European Union.