Holy See secretary with Serbia's leadership: Pope Francis's visit to Serbia depends on invitation

Pope Francis; Photo: Tanjug/AP

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic will meet with the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, who is currently on an official visit to Serbia. Before Vucic, as announced, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic will talk with the archbishop, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selakovic.

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Whether Pope Francis will visit Serbia depends on an invitation, and the Holy Father is very open to considering all invitations, Paul Gallagher said on the eve of his official visit to Serbia.

Archbishop Gallagher, who ordained Monsignor Fabijan Svalina as the coadjutor Catholic bishop of Srem yesterday in Sremska Mitrovica, said that Pope Francis cannot accept all invitations and cannot accept all invitations immediately, but can do that when it comes to the significant ones.

He added that he can accept them for next year or the one after that.

"The Pope always wants to make a positive contribution to each country he visits, therefore it is necessary to have a general consensus among the various elements of society for the visit to be positive and contribute," the archbishop explained.

Gallagher said that he came at the invitation Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic, and that he was invited several times in the past to visit Serbia by then Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, but that this visit was not realized due to the Covid pandemic.

(Telegraf.rs)