Roman Catholic Church in Croatia

A school in Dalmatia, in Croatia, is introducing Albanian language classes, designed in part to keep alive the language and culture of an ancient, tiny community of long-ago Albanian migrants known as the Arbanasi.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic on Thursday received the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Efraim Zuroff, Archbishop John of Pakrac and Slavonia of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) and Ruta Vaganaite, a Lithuanian writer and author of the book Our People.

Croatian daily Jutarnji List has published a letter that Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej sent to Roman Catholic Pope Francis in July.

It concerns the intention to declare Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac a saint.

Josip Bozanic has described "the blessed Alojzije Stepinac" as "a reflection of the face of mercy in the Croatian people's modern history."

Bozanic is the Croatian Roman Catholic cardinal, who made this statement as part of his Christmas message published in Zagreb.

Tomislav Nikolic states that Pope Francis told him he did not want canonization of Croatian Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac to cause disagreements betweenChristians.

Nikolic told the Wednesday edition of Belgrade-based daily Blic that during his meeting with Pope Francis last month he presented his view of the role of Stepinac and the Catholic clergy in the Independent State of Croatia.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic was in the Vatican on Friday where he met with the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis.

The Roman Catholic Church "is not rushing to declare Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac a saint," Francis said during his meeting, according to Nikolic.

Serbian president meets with Pope Francis in Vatican

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic was in the Vatican on Friday where he met with the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis.

As announced by the Vatican's press service, "in the cordial discussions, the good existing relations between the Holy See and the Republic of Serbia were demonstrated."

The Anti-Fascist League of Croatia commemorated the deaths of around 1,000 Serbs who were killed by Nazi-allied Ustasa units in the town of Glina during July and August 1941.

The Serbian Orthodox Church has called for talks with the Catholic Church about the expected canonization of a controversial Croatian bishop Alojzije Stepinac - who was archbishop of Zagreb during the Second World War and later a cardinal.

BELGRADE - The president of the Coalition of Refugee Associations in Serbia, Miodrag Linta, condemned Wednesday's incident in which leader of the Radical Party of Serbia Vojislav Seselj set fire to a Croatian flag in front of the Palace of Justice in Belgrade, as this harms Serbia's international reputation and normalization of relations with Croatia.