Serbian patriarch: Time still not right for pope's visit

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej says he remains in his earlier position that the time is not right for Pope Francis to visit Serbia.

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has assessed that the pope's visit would benefit Serbia.

"My position as a statesman is that the pope's visit would be in Serbia's interest, especially in the context of not recognizing Kosovo. There will hardly be a pope who has more understanding for us than Pope Francis," Dacic told Blic.

"I have said what I had to say at the time, and I remain in that position," Patriarch Irinej told Tuesday's edition of the daily Blic.

Speaking about his meeting in Belgrade with State Secretary of the Holy See Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the patriarch said they did not discuss the pope's visit.

"We have not exchanged one word about that. By either side. There was talk about other things, but not about that," said Irinej.

At the beginning of this year, the SPC head said that the time was not right for the visit, and that "because of everything that has happened in the past, and a huge number of (Serb) refugees from Croatia, a large portion of the nation is against it."

Another reason was the SPC position that has been "heard" - according to which the pope should first bow before the victims of Jasenovac, and only then come to Belgrade.

Jasenovac was a death camp for Serbs, Jews, and Roma, run during the Second World War by the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH).

According to Blic, "there have been interpretations that the atmosphere is changing because the Vatican has not recognized Kosovo, and because it did not declare Alojzije Stepinac - the Zagreb archbishop during the NDH, whom Serbia considers an accomplice of the regime in many war crimes committed against Serbs - a saint."