back back to News previous previous story  |  next story next

Vatican makes plea for ‘moderation’ in Kosovo

by Pat Ashworth

US soldiers provide security near the Orthodox church in Gnjilane, Kosovo, last Saturday © not advert
On patrol: US soldiers provide security near the Orthodox church in Gnjilane, Kosovo, last Saturday AP

THE VATICAN has urged Serbian and Kosovar leaders to avoid extremist violence, after Kosovo’s declaration of independence on Sunday.

The director of the Vatican press office, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, said it would be paying close attention to the new situation. “The Holy See . . . invites all, especially the political officials of Serbia and Kosovo, to be prudent and moderate, and asks for a decided and real commitment to avoid extremist reactions and violence, in such a way that there can now be created the premises of a future of respect, reconciliation, and collaboration.”

He warned, however, that the rights of minorities should be applied “without distinctions”.

The Serbian Orthodox Church, whose Holy Synod condemned the declaration of independence, issued a statement that said Kosovo and Metohija must remain an integral part of Serbia, and that any other solution “represents an act of violence with long-term repercussions, both for the Balkans and the whole of Europe”.

Exclusion of Kosovo and Metohija from Serbia represented “a form of violence equal only to the periods of occupation and tyranny which we hoped definitely belonged to the past”.

The annexation of the two countries to Great Albania in the Second World War had seen thousands of Christian-Orthodox Serbs “expelled from their secular homes, just like in 1999, with the objective of not having them return, ever”, the statement said.


back back to News up back to top previous previous story  |  next story next


© Church Times 2006 - All rights reserved

Website by Baigent