ZAGREB, March 10, 2019 – Istrian Democratic Party vice president Valter Flego said on Sunday that the decision of the Catholic Church in the Austrian federal state of Carinthia to ban the holding of Mass at Loibach, a field near Bleiburg, over political instrumentalisation, was in no way directed against the faith and believers.
“This is not a decision against religious freedoms, on the contrary. The Church in Asutria wants to protect the believers from the abuse by which the Church wants to spread nationalistic messages and promote Ustasha symbols,” Flego said adding that everyone should be aware that by doing so our neighbours were trying to protect us from ourselves.
“Instead of drawing a lesson, we learnt nothing. Unfortunately, our state leadership is condemning the decision of Austria which only did what we should have done a long time ago, and that is to ban Ustashaism in our country,” Flego said.
MP Emil Daus of the IDS said the Croatian Democratic Union-led government had lost a feeling for any political, moral or human responsibility, adding that the accident involving HDZ Minister Gabrijala Žalac was proof of that.
“A traffic accident can happen to anyone, in a hundred different circumstances and I am truly sorry that the minister had to go through that. However, the fact that the minister got behind the wheel without a valid driver’s licence, aware that she is breaking the law, is a reason for immediate resignation,” Daus said.
More news on the Bleiburg mass ban can be found in the Politics section.
