The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Croatia on 4-5 June will be his first visit to Zagreb since he became the Holy Father succeeding John Paul II, and the fourth visit by a pontiff to Croatia, as Pope John Paul II was in Croatia three times: on 10-11 September 1994 , on 2-4 October 1998 and on 5-9 June 2003.
The forthcoming visit of the Bishop of Rome to Zagreb will have the motto of "Together in Christ".
The visit begins with the landing of the pope's plane at the Zagreb airport on Saturday, 4 June, where he will be welcomed by top Croatian officials and highest-ranking Catholic dignitaries.
After that, the pontiff will hold meetings with President Ivo Josipovic and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor. Later in the day, a gathering will be organised for other political officials, religious dignitaries and prominent figures from culture, science and arts in the Croatian in the Croatian National Theatre.
On Saturday evening, the pope is expected to attend a Youth Prayer Vigil in Zagreb's main Trg Bana Jelacica square.
The central event of his pastoral visit is a mass which he will serve at the Hippodrome, Zagreb, on Sunday, on the occasion of the National Day of Catholic Families.
At the end of that mass, he will send his Urbi at Orbi message.
On Sunday evening, he will participate in Vespers, an evening prayer service, with bishops, priests, nuns and divinity students in the Zagreb Cathedral, where he will say a prayer at the grave of the Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac.
The seeing-off ceremony is scheduled for 1915 hours at the Zagreb airport, from where the pope will depart to Rome aboard a Croatia Airlines plane.
The first visit by a pontiff to Croatia took place during the war, on 10 and 11 September 1994, when nearly a million faithful welcomed John Paul II at Zagreb's Hippodrome. He called for togetherness, forgiveness and promoting the culture of peace. The occasion for the first pilgrimage was the 900th anniversary of the Zagreb Archdiocese.
On the second pilgrimage, held under the motto "You will be my witnesses", on October 2-4, 1998, Pope John Paul II visited Zagreb, Split - which was celebrating its 1700th anniversary, Solin, and Marija Bistrica, where he proclaimed Zagreb Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac a blessed martyr for the truth and unity of the Church.
Stepinac embodies the entire tragedy that has befallen the Croatian population and Europe during the 20th century, the pope said on that occasion.
John Paul II visited Croatia for the third time on June 5-9, 2003, which was his 100th apostolic trip outside Italy. Upon landing on the island of Krk, he said he was especially pleased to set foot on Croatian soil, recalling that Croatia had always been part of Europe. The pope visited Djakovo, Osijek, Rijeka, Zadar and Dubrovnik, where he beatified Marija Petkovic, founder of the Daughters of Mercy, who had helped the poor and the disdained.
