
The issue that has been discussed for a long time is the visit of the head of the Vatican to Kosovo. The Pope has had the invitation to visit Kosovo at the Holy See for years! The invitation was submitted by all heads of state, former presidents Ibrahim Rugova, Hashim Thaçi, Atifete Jahjaga and finally by President Vjosa Osmani and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti. Unlike in the past, Pope Francis, when reporting on his visits to various countries in the Spanish magazine “Vida Nueva,” said, apart from his prayers for peace and prosperity in Kosovo: “We are working in Kosovo, but it is not defined.” “. This sufficiently measured and diplomatic expression was considered by the head of the Holy See as a notice and a promise that he would fulfill the wish of the invitees by visiting them and fulfill the historic will of the head of state of Kosovo for the papal visit.
Due to the fact that the Vatican has not yet recognized the Republic of Kosovo and the reports are not interpreted as interstate, the possible visit of Pope Francis to Prishtina, Prizren or elsewhere could be presented by the Vatican as a pastoral visit. However, official Prishtina could also portray it as a state in the hope that the Vatican would change its relationship with the Republic of Kosovo and recognize its independence. Even fifteen years after Kosovo’s independence, the Holy See has shown no signs that it will change its political course toward recognizing Kosovo as an independent state. On the other hand, official Prishtina has never ceased to seek Vatican approval and consent for this fact. Undoubtedly, the Republic of Serbia remains an obstacle!
When Pope Francis first spoke about his planned visit to “small countries” and Kosovo was mentioned, this did not go unnoticed in Belgrade. The attitude is still rejecting! The explanations are the same: “Kosovo is the holy Serbian land”. The relations between Serbia and the Holy See are official and interstate. The visits of Serbian heads of state to the Vatican have never been accompanied by an invitation to the Pope to visit Serbia.
When the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, was in Serbia for a three-day visit at the end of 2022, when asked about a visit of Pope Francis to Serbia, he replied that the Pope would not only like to visit, but would also like to visit “this beautiful place”. However, the guest explained that it is not just a matter of the Pope’s will, but that it must be preceded by an invitation, first from the government of Serbia, but given that Serbia is a country with an Orthodox majority, the invitation must also come from the Serbian Orthodox Church.
“It is my first meeting with His Holiness (Patriarch Profirije of Serbian Orthodox Church) and that is the main purpose of my visit: to meet him on behalf of the Catholic Church, to congratulate him on his enthronement and to wish him all the best”. , Cardinal Koch had stated at that time in Belgrade for the Tanjug news agency. He had also spoken about the relations between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Holy See, describing them as “very good and friendly”, expressing his personal will to deepen them even more.
These relations, described as “very good and friendly,” turn out to be quite problematic if one follows their course. In the last decades, the relations between Serbia and the Vatican were connected with many situations that led to extreme hostility. The portrayal of the Vatican and the Pope in Serbia is very poor. Serbian politicians accuse the Vatican of involvement in wars in the area of former Yugoslavia. Entire books were written by Serbian politicians and academics criticizing the Pope and the Vatican. Serbian Orthodox Church blamed the Holy See for the canonization of Croatian Cardinal Alojzi Stepinac, who was Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his death. Stepinac was not crowned a cardinal until 1953. During Tito’s Yugoslavia, Cardinal Stepinac was accused and imprisoned as a collaborator with the Croatian Ustasha during the existence of the Croatian Independent State. Moreover, politicians and the Serbian Orthodox Church accuse the Vatican of the crimes in Jasenovac. It is these and other moments that shake these religious and state mechanisms that did not make possible the Pope’s arrival in Niš in 2013 on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the “Edict of Milan”.
Kosovo is the issue that also represents the turning point in Serbian Orthodox Church relations, in parallel with Serbia’s relations with the Holy See. As for the Pope’s “undefined work” in connection with the visit to Kosovo, the former Ambassador of Serbia to the Holy See, Darko Tanaskovic, tells the Serbian media that Pope Francis’ visit to Kosovo “would have repercussions without any doubt.” This would have extremely negative repercussions and would lead to stable and constructive intergovernmental and bilateral relations between Serbia and the Holy See. Sensitive, but also balanced dialogue between the churches between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, as well as the general Orthodox-Catholic ecumenical dialogue, the state of which is very close to Pope Francis’ heart.” Ambassador Tnaskovic justifies his skepticism about the Pope’s visit by also mentioning the geopolitical circumstances in which it took place today. “It is difficult to find convincing reasons that the Pope, especially in the midst of the major Ukraine crisis, would question everything that was said in the interest of the visit by Albin Kurti and his group.” But in recent years, we in politics have empirically convinced ourselves of the correctness of the wisdom contained in the words, “Never say never…”. The ambassador urges that “Serbia and Serbian Orthodox Church, as much as it depends on them, should be proactive against unpleasant surprises.”
Pope Francis visit to Pristina, as well as the Vatican’s recognition of the Republic of Kosovo, would be appropriate in these geopolitical circumstances, where prayers for peace and prosperity would be at their best./The Geopost/