His Holiness Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade, Serbian Patriarch Irenaeus on Pope’s visit to Serbia.
Journalist - “Who can invite the Pope to visit Serbia?”
Patriarch Irenaeus - "We have not invited the Pope to come, Pope was invited by the government. This is something we have talked about, during Patriarch Paul’s era (1990-2009). Pope is the head of state, Vatican is a state, and as such he can visit any country.
Journalist - “When will Pope visit?”
Patriarch Irenaeus - “I believe that he will not come as long as our Church does not invite him. This is what i think. Of course he has right to visit Serbia anytime, and we have nothing against that.”
Journalist - “Will You invite the Pope?”
Patriarch Irenaeus - “The question of Pope’s visit is the question for our Synod, we are holy and synodical Church. All problems, canonical or dogmatic, are solved by our Synods. At Synod, God’s voice and the voice of the bishops are heard. We have not invited the Pope to come. The wish of our country’s government is to invite the Pope, they too believe that Pope will not visit unless our Church invites him. Pope’s visit would do no harm to us. Unfortunately obstacle to this visit is our tragic history and relationship with Croats. We still have here in Serbia huge number of our People that fled here from Croatia. Not only because of Croat war crimes from second world war era but also from the era of 1990s, the era that was only a continuation of German occupation’s era. The biggest tragedy of all this is that in this ustashe movement there were many members of the Roman-Catholic clergy.”
youtube.com/watch?v=LPwr-o7BR-Y&feature=youtu.be