catholics-from-croatia

"Today I pray in a special way for peace and harmony in this country, so that with God's help and through the intercession of Our Lady of Budslau we can overcome."

"He who calls us to service and often places us before great tasks that frighten us gives us the strength to bear burdens and not retreat from ravenous wolves. Priestly service, episcopal service, is not private property but a gift from God to serve God’s people and all people of good will."

"I am aware of the situation in the Church and society, with all its beautiful and painful aspects. This is my, this is our Church and society. I do not have another time or different circumstances. I want to do what is in my power here – to live, work and pray with you and for you, dear brothers and sisters. And if I succeed, at least a little, in confessing the faith of Thomas as my own, I shall know that I have not run the race in vain. Everything else is in God's hands."

"Caritas is one big family made up primarily of little people with a big heart, who help those who are in a more difficult situation than we are. These people are our faithful, but also many people of good will in Croatia and in our diaspora."

"Faith in Jesus Christ and the remembrance of our ancestors have given us, and continue to give us, the strength to endure the past and present, when others want to erase our memory by force."

"I now find myself before you, Church of Zagreb, unworthy and weak with many human questions that I can only answer with devotion to God in confidence and certainty that he sees the secrets of the heart. These days people have said to me in various ways that I should not fear the office which I feel surpasses me."

"Our faithful are looking at us, their shepherds, to see how we behave, how we relate toward one another, not only in words but by example. Christ has entrusted us with the task of proclaiming Him credibly by our words and lives."

"I joyfully greet you all with prayer in my heart. May nothing be more important to us than Christ! My thoughts, heart and prayers go first and foremost to all families – mothers, fathers, and children. I want us to seek, find, recognize, and follow the Messiah together."

"Dear young people, today as we look up at the sky, we see that the rain we wanted all summer long is falling. I am also looking at you and believe that you are the saving rain that soaks the earth and makes it fertile."

"Europe and the entire Western world have done nothing to stop the war in Syria and Iraq, where Islamist terrorists are killing Christians, which could lead to the disappearance of Christianity from the cradle of Christianity. Only a few journalists talk about it."

"Don't get carried away and think that we own the Truth. The Truth is sought. Jesus is sought. We can never possess this Truth in its fullness because this Truth is Jesus Christ, he is God. We always want to know something exactly, we want to touch everything, but we see that this is not the case and therefore call it faith. Therefore, we, as the faithful, must believe and follow Jesus Christ, find this Truth and proclaim this Truth in our lives."

"We've won Olympic gold in other sports, I don't underestimate other sports, but football is by far the most important and the biggest sport. Croatian sports do great things, but what we have been doing for six years, to keep Croatia together and together, to astonish and admire what we are doing, is not clear to anyone. This team is the biggest and the best. Maybe Croatia was better in 2008 and 2016, if you look at who was in the attack in 2008, Klasnić, Modrić, Petrić, Mandžukić, Eduardo... However, this Croatia is the largest national team of all time."

"Religious freedom is not free. It comes at a cost. You Americans have been given the gift of religious freedom. Protect it, and never take it for granted."

"The greatest tragedy of a nation is not the presence of criminals and robbers, which every nation has, but the lack of compassionate people, the lack of people who stop, take pity upon the suffering of others and do something for them."

"The study of theology requires humility and the search for truth as well as charity and love. Transform study into a life experience and a genuine spiritual journey. Knowledge of Christ is attained following a double path: the intellectual path, through theological study, and mystical knowledge, through prayer and the sacramental life. Both one and the other are necessary to live an authentic evangelical faith and to be able to transmit it to others."

"We have come here today as sincere seekers of the truth. We are not coming as prisoners of history and the past but as lovers of the undistorted history of our nation. This is our obligation as faithful Christians."

"As things develop, conclusions will be reached concerning the best forms of encounter, communication and mutual activity. For us in the ecclesial area, ecumenicism is a task that we experience as the mission of the Church. The Church wants us to work on drawing closer to each other and mutual contacts."

"May the Almighty, who in the cross of Jesus testifies how much He loves us, help that no religious community in Croatia turns into a captivating ideology, but that their members manifest their faith in love that liberates and accepts others regardless of their diversity."

"It is unacceptable to transform Croatian patriotism into an ideology of hatred and violence. Croatian patriotism is a value system that incorporates the principles of the gospel. When someone hates members of other nationalities and commits violence against them, he is wounding the Christian heritage and acting against God's plan for mankind."

"Fourteen centuries after the Christianization of the Croats, has the time finally come for maturity, the time of our confirmation – confirmation of humanity and faith? Has the time come for a transition from the selfish egocentrism of the individual, party, government and opposition into a mature, conscious person open to dialogue and the society, where Domnius' language of the value of openness and respect, justice and solidarity, the common good and unity, to all of us in the city of Split and the homeland of Croatia, will be our everyday, understandable and acceptable language? I believe that it is! That is why we ask his intercession today and celebrate him."

"The society and state convey existential truths. The truth does not live outside of reality. It is aware of and appreciates existential human truths, but it does not assert that they are eternal. The Church has the same attitude toward democracy."

"It is necessary to open the archives. It is necessary to confront everything, from both the light and dark sides. We need to promote freedom of research and not fear the truth."

"In the recent history of the Church in Europe, but also in other places throughout the world, there are witnesses and experiences of this martyrdom which arose even as icons of holiness: and the liturgical memory which the Church celebrates with veneration is the eternal sign that martyrdom is always the most explicit and convincing form of transmission of the faith."

"For we Europeans, regaining Christian memory and heritage - learning from past generations - means going back to the roots of our historical identity, drinking from the fountain of the Word of God. For we Europeans professing our faith, nourished by listening to the Word and by ecclesial experience, must take the form of bearing witness."

"We have existed for fourteen centuries, owing to the strong faith in God we received from our ancestors and because we have protected and defended the family, which is the source of life and joy. This same journey of family and faith guides and assembles us today. Such encounters that neither express rebellion nor are directed against anyone. We need encounters as vivid testimony to the beauty of life that is hidden and born within marriage and the family."

"I am so shaken that I would rather be silent, pray to God and commiserate with people. I want to tell them that I am near."

"Let us come to meet the Pope with open hearts and joyful spirits; proud, dignified and eager to hear his words of inspiration."

"It is a crime to kill the innocent, whether in Jasenovac or in Bleiburg."

"Be brave and admit what happened and repent. All of you who know something should help, all of you who participated here. Help this nation finally arrive at the whole truth, which liberates."

"Without God we can't do anything, not even deny Him."

"This really is not Our Lady from the Gospel."

"Aimlessness is the toughest and the most expensive aim."

"All people are philosophers and all believers are theologians."

"Animal is driven by instincts, human by values, aims and reasons."

"God is a king whose throne resides in every kind and honest soul."

"Marriage is a philosophy that should be entered without many philosophize."

"Nature smiles by flowers."

"Old age is a peace of the deep forest."

"Praying to God means getting closer to man."

"Swear word is a trash of the unswept soul."

"The more we have, the more we miss."

"Those who are not loved by anybody love the deepest."

"I would like everyone to understand that the Church in this society is not a foreign element but a profoundly domestic reality that truly wants the good for each person. We hope to find agreement and a suitable response from the other side."

"The goal of every reform and renewal in the Church is the holiness of its members. The Lord Jesus calls on us constantly to follow the path of ecclesial communion, Catholic faith and holiness in our times, especially among pressing ecclesial and social challenges."

"The mandate remains the same, as the same is Jesus Christ "yesterday, today and forever", and his Gospel, while recipients change and the social, cultural, political and religious situations in which they live."

"With great hope, I look toward the future of our Eparchy of Križevci and anticipate days of spiritual revival. Whoever truly wants to follow Christ will inevitably encounter resistance and persecution from the world. However, let us not lose hope. With God we are always in the majority and always on the winning side. May our many holy ancestors be our role models and support us on this path."

"All and in all Christ! May it begin thus, may it continue thus and may it end thus in the Savior according to His will! Faithful of Šibenik, may we grow together in faith and trust in God’s omnipotence, mercy, guidance and help. I commend myself to your prayers and will return them with prayers every day. We shall not be forgotten by Our Lady or St. Michael or St. James or St. Nicholas Tavelich or all the Croatian martyrs."

"The goals before us — poverty eradication, quality education, inclusion and climate action — cannot be achieved without individual national efforts coupled with our common dedication and action. For its part, Croatia is doing its best to fulfil the goals we have set for ourselves."

"What I want to do is work together with all my female and male colleagues and work with the media in terms of our substance and not our form. Let us not divide ourselves into men and women."

"Sports brings people together. People in all of our countries are tired of ideological differences, of going back into the past all the time."