ZAGREB, April 5, 2018 – The president of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference, Zadar Archbishop Želimir Puljić, told Croatian Catholic Radio on Wednesday that the interpretive statement accompanying the Istanbul Convention was appropriate for these time of great tensions, adding that the Church advocated dialogue.
In an interview, Puljić commented on his meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković last week in Zadar at which he insisted on additional explanations of the interpretive statement, saying that this could look as “an appropriate thing to do at times of great tensions.”
The statement is appropriate particularly because it says that the Convention “does not oblige Croatia to introduce gender ideology in its legal and education system or change its constitutional definition of marriage, Puljić said. “This is very positive,” he added.
Puljić also said he had asked the prime minister if the interpretive statement carried legal weight and that Plenković had responded in the affirmative.
