13.02.2020. - On February 13, the Embassy organized a reception on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Serbia, and marking 100 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Holy See, ie. of the opening of the Apostolic Nunciature in Belgrade. The reception was attended by the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who addressed the audience.

Ambassador Dejan Šahović said that at present, and in recent years for that matter, communication and interaction between Serbia and Holy See has been constructive, characterized by common understanding on many issues of mutual interest. In the last two years a number of high-level meetings took place. These high-level discussions demonstrated that we share views on how some of the outstanding internatinal problems should be dealt with.

In the regional context of the Balkans, we both recognize hat dialog and reconciliation are key words. Serbia highly appreciates that the Holy See has been a consistent promoter of such an approach in contacts with all regional partners. Especially important is the fact that the Holy See maintained this approach vis-à-vis the dialog between Belgrade and Priština and the status of Kosovo and Metohija. We are grateful for that. Equally, we highly value the Holy See`s continuous and strong advocacy for a more rapid integration of the Western Balkans into the European Union, since membership in the EU is priority objective of Serbia.

Serbia's population is predominantly Christian Orhodox. Nevertheless, a sizeble Catholic community lives in Serbia as well, which is an important part of society. He also underlined that relations between the Government and the Catholic Church in Serbia were also very positive and developing further in the same direction.

In his address, The Secretary of  State of the Holy See spoke about the most important moments in the diplomatic relations of the two countries. At the end of the presentation he emphasized that bilateral relations of Serbia and the Holy See are strengtening, due to regular political dialogue at the highest and high levels. The Secretary of State of the Holy See indicated that Serbia and the Holy See have good international cooperation, as they share universal values such as peace, security, human rights and enviromental protection.