Papal press conference

In what has become a tradition during papal trips abroad, Pope Benedict answered questions put to him by journalists during his flight to Croatia on Saturday morning.

Read the following translation (from Italian into English) of the journalists’ questions and the Pope’s replies:

Question: Your Holiness, You’ve already visited Croatia and your predecessor made no fewer than three visits to this country. Can one talk therefore of a special relationship between the Holy See and Croatia? And, what are the reasons and the most significant aspects to this relationship and this journey in general?
Reply: Personally, I’ve been to Croatia twice. The first time was for the funeral of Cardinal Seper, my predecessor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who was a great friend of mine, also because he was President of the Theological Commission of which I was a member. In this way, I came to know his kindness, his intelligence, his perceptiveness and his joie de vivre. And his character gave me an indication of what Croatia itself was like because he was a great Croat and a great European. And then I went to Croatia a second time after being invited there for a symposium and a celebration in a Marian shrine by the Cardinal’s private secretary: he too a man of great joy and great kindness. In Croatia I witnessed the piety of the people that is very similar to that in my homeland, I must admit. I was very happy to see this incarnation of the faith, a faith lived out through the heart, where the supernatural becomes natural and the natural is illuminated by the supernatural. So, in this way, I saw and experienced this country of Croatia, with its centuries- old history of Catholicism that has always been very close to the Holy See and with its preceding history of the ancient Church. I saw that there is a very deep kinship in the faith, in the desire to serve God for humanity, in Christian humanism. In this way, it seems to me that there is a natural link to this true catholicity which is open to everyone and which transforms the world, which wants to transform the world according to the ideas of the Creator.

Question: Your Holiness, Croatia is scheduled to shortly join the 27 nations which make up the European Union. However, more recently a certain scepticism towards the EU has increased among the Croatian people. Given this, do you intend to give a message of encouragement to the Croatian people so that they look towards Europe not just with a purely economic viewpoint but also with a cultural one that adheres to Christian values?
Reply: I think that the majority of Croats are generally looking forward with great joy towards this moment when they will become members of the European Union because they are a profoundly European people. The Cardinals Sipac, Kuharic and Bozanic, always told me: “We are not the Balkans but instead are Mitteleuropa” (Central Europe) . Therefore Croatia is a nation that is situated right in the centre of Europe, its history and its culture. In this way, I think it is logical, just and necessary that Croatia joins (the EU). Naturally one can understand a certain scepticism if a small country like Croatia becomes part of a large, already formed European bloc. One can understand there is perhaps a fear of an overly strong centralised bureaucracy and a rationalistic culture that doesn’t sufficiently take into account the history, the richness of history and the richness of its diverse history. It seems to me that this aspect could be the very mission of this nation that joins (the EU) now: to renew a unity within diversity. The European identity is an identity, precisely because of the richness of the different cultures which converge in the Christian faith and in the great Christian values. As long as this is once again visible and efficient, it seems to be that the Croatian people’s mission on joining the EU is to strengthen the history of our culture and diversity, which is our richness, against a certain abstract rationalism. In this way, I encourage the Croats, the entry processs is a reciprocal process of giving and receiving. Thus Croatia can give with its history, its humanity and economic capacity and it can naturally also receive through the enlargement of its horizons and seeing in this great exchange not just the economic aspect but also the cultural and spiritual one.