Parliament's votive pilgrimage in Ludbreg was held on Sunday and before mass Deputy Speaker Josip Leko said the Ludbreg shrine provided hope that one could overcome all hardships by persevering and that symbolically it recalled the setbacks and challenges the Croatian people encountered during its turbulent history.
The acting parliament speaker said that only through common sense, wisdom and kindness could one find a way out of the global economic crisis.
The right of the stronger one cannot prevail, Leko said, calling for tolerance and helping the needy and pointing to parliament's obligation and responsibility to protect the rights and interests of all citizens.
Mass was celebrated by Gosipic-Senj Bishop Mile Bogovic, who recalled that the Ludbreg pilgrimage was held on the Sunday before the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in memory of an event in 1411 when during a service, a priest doubting the transformation of wine into Christ's blood saw real blood in the cup after breaking the communion wafer.
The blood is kept in the Ludbreg parish. In 1513, Pope Leo X declared the miracle authentic. A votive chapel of the Croatian parliament was built as part of the Ludbreg shrine in 1994 in accordance with a vow made by Croatians at an assembly in Varazdin in 1739.
Bogovic condemned attempts to cover up the Croatian victims in the war and post-war period. He said it was parliament's duty to preserve the spiritual and physical health of the Croatian people as the only way to count on the support of the Church.
Commenting on current events, Bogovic described as dangerous legislation which favoured "bad tendencies" and reiterated that the Church advocated the protection of life from conception to death.
Varazdin Bishop Josip Mrzljak wished Parliament Speaker Boris Sprem to recover from a serious illness.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims came to Ludbreg today, including MPs and among them Tomislav Karamarko, the president of the strongest opposition party, the HDZ, prefects, mayors, municipal heads and others.
