Pope to visit Croatia in 2011, officials say

(October 29, 2010) Croatia’s Catholic Church and government officials said on Friday that Pope Benedict XVI will visit the largely Catholic Balkan nation next year. The announcement was made after President Ivo Josipovic of Croatia met Archbishop Marin Srakić of Djakovo-Osijek president of the Croatian bishops’ conference and Cardinal Josip Bozanic, Archbishop of Zagreb. Cardinal Bozanic said the Pope has accepted the country's invitation and will come “most probably in the first half of the next year,” and pray at the tomb of Blessed Aloysius Stepinac. He said the Pontiff is set to stay in the capital, Zagreb for a weekend. President Josipovic who visited the Vatican earlier this month said the visit will boost the country's bid to join the European Union. Pope Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, visited Croatia three times since it proclaimed independence from communist Yugoslavia in 1991. More than 90 percent of Croatia's 4.4 million people declare themselves as Catholics.