Vulic: Pope Francis knew how threatened the human and religious rights of Serbs in Kosovo are and how much Serbian churches have suffered

Milos Vulic, a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade and at the Pontifical Gregorian University in the Vatican, told Kosovo Online that Pope Francis, who passed away yesterday, was a very well-informed person and knew how much Serbian churches and monasteries suffered during the 2004 pogrom, as well as the difficult conditions under which Orthodox believers of Serbian nationality have lived in Kosovo over the years, and how much their human and religious rights have been threatened.

“Pope Francis’s position on Kosovo was primarily shaped by his relationship with the Serbian Orthodox Church. From that perspective, the Pope was unwavering and wanted to fully respect the Serbian Orthodox Church, its faithful, but also the Serbian state and its citizens,” Vulic said.

He added that the Holy See’s stance on Kosovo remained unchanged from the beginning of Pope Francis’s pontificate in 2013 until the end of his life, and that the Vatican has regarded Kosovo as a special entity “because it is the territory of a sovereign state.”

“That position was formed from two angles. First, the ecumenical one, based on the relationship between the Holy See and the Serbian Orthodox Church, which, since the election of Pope Francis, and even earlier, with the election of our Patriarch Irinej, has been on an upward path. This is most evident in another matter that is very important for our country: the canonization of Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac of Zagreb from World War II, which Pope Francis actually halted. So, when it comes to Kosovo, the Pope primarily had in mind the Serbian Orthodox Church and the cultural-historical heritage of the Serbian people and Orthodox believers in Kosovo. He was informed about the situation regarding our cultural and historical heritage by both our church and state officials,” Vulic noted.

The second perspective, he explained, stems from the fact that the Holy See is not just the Catholic Church but also an internationally recognized state, and that the Vatican, as a state, adheres to its diplomatic norms and principles. One of those principles is that the Holy See does not recognize self-proclaimed states that are not members of the United Nations or other major international organizations.

He recalls that Kosovo’s media had grandly announced the opening of the so-called Special Mission of Kosovo to the Holy See and even claimed that a form of diplomatic relations was being established, which, as he says, is not true because the very nature of special missions in international law does not imply the establishment of any diplomatic relations.

“Especially because we are talking about two subjects that are not equal, that is, on one side, we have a state entity, and on the other, a non-state entity, one that the first does not recognize as a state. So, this special mission is primarily of a dialogical character and is not the only mission to the Holy See, there are others as well. The Vatican wants dialogue with Pristina, just as it maintains dialogue with many other non-state actors, humanitarian organizations, etc., but there is no talk of establishing diplomatic relations, even though there has been lobbying from Pristina for the Vatican to recognize Kosovo as an independent state. All those visits, by Hashim Thaci, Albin Kurti, and Vjosa Osmani, had one goal: to convince the Pope and the Holy See to recognize Kosovo as an independent state. That has not happened, and I am certain it will not,” Vulic said.

From the Vatican’s perspective, he said, these visits were informal in nature, lacked the usual ceremonial protocol expected for visits by state leaders, and were not mentioned in their official press, which is standard Vatican practice.

“All of this is very far from what Pristina would like, that the Vatican recognize Kosovo as an independent state. What will happen on this issue in the future remains to be seen, but my humble opinion is that the Vatican will not change its position, for both ecumenical and diplomatic reasons. What is important for our country is that the Vatican, with this stance, has helped us tremendously. The Vatican may be a small state, but it arguably possesses the greatest so-called soft power in the world. Many smaller, and even some larger, countries look to the Vatican’s positions on international matters, so I am convinced that many smaller states that may have planned to recognize independent Kosovo did not do so precisely because of the Vatican,” Vulic emphasized.