Thursday, September 29, 2005

From the daily email

SERBIAN PRESIDENT INVITES POPE TO VISIT HIS COUNTRY

VATICAN CITY, SEP 29, 2005 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls released the following declaration to journalists today, concerning this morning's meeting of the Holy Father with Boris Tadic, president of the Republic of Serbia:

"In the course of the cordial meeting which lasted 25 minutes, President Tadic illustrated to the Pope the current situation in the Republic of Serbia. Talks concentrated particularly on the need to teach values to young people, especially in the scholastic field.

"President Tadic also invited the Holy Father to visit the Republic of Serbia. In thanking him for his invitation, Benedict XVI expressed the hope that such a visit may take place in the future."

OP/SERBIAN PRESIDENT/NAVARRO-VALLS VIS 050929(130)

- The Archived press release for today

According to Wikipedia's List of John Paul II's travels, the Holy Father never made it to Serbia. If Benedict does indeed go, it will be a first.

Of course, now that he is has been invited, it is traditional to elicit an invitation from the local Christian authorities, namely the 91 year-old Pavle, Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovac and Serbian Patriarch. Judging by what Wikipedia has to say about him, I doubt Pavle would be against such a visit, unlike his brethren in Russia.

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