The Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanic, said on Saturday that the Catholic Church was very pleased with the results of the population census because about 86 per cent of people in Croatia identified themselves as Catholics.
"A vast majority of the people have identified themselves as Catholics. It wasn't better even during communism," Bozanic said in an interview with Media Servis, commenting on the recently published results of the 2011 census.
The census showed that the number of Catholics dropped 1.69 per cent from the previous one conducted in 2001. Bozanic said this was because some people may have calculated with expressing their religious convictions. "Perhaps ten years ago some people calculated that it would be better for them to describe themselves as believers, as Catholics, but not so much because they were or were not Catholic, but for their personal promotion."
The cardinal expressed concerning about the ageing of the population, highlighting the importance of the population policy and of promoting vital elements for the development of the Croatian society.
Bozanic would not comment on the performance of the government of Social Democrat Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, saying that the Church cannot judge it because it neither appoints nor dismisses any government. He said that meetings between representatives of the government and the Church had never discussed a review of the treaties with the Holy See and that he had found such claims only in the media.
