The Croatian Foreign Ministry on Friday delivered a note to the Apostolic Nunciature in Zagreb in reply to a note received last week from the Holy See State Secretariat with regard to the restitution of parts of property of the Dajla parish to the Republic of Croatia, the ministry said in a press release.
The ministry note clarifies the legal aspects of the Croatian Justice Ministry's decision of August 9, which declared null and void decisions adopted by the Istria County Property Rights Relations Office in Buje which gave the Dajla parish ownership of farmland and construction land in the Brtonigla and Novigrad cadastral municipalities and established that the parish was entitled to compensation, said the press release.
The ministry said that enclosed with its note was the text of the Justice Ministry decision and its Italian translation which explains in detail all relevant legal facts and the relevant legal framework.
The Justice Ministry declared null and void the Istria County decisions which gave the Dajla parish ownership of land on the Church's and the civil area of the Dajla Benedictine monastery, enabling the Republic of Croatia to register ownership over said property.
The head of the Holy See press office, Federico Lombardi, said last week he was surprised by the Justice Ministry's decision which annulled the restitution of the monastery's property to the Catholic Church in Croatia.
Lombardi said he was surprised because the decision was extraordinary, because the Croatian prime minister had said she wanted to solve in the spirit of cooperation the problem about which both Croatia and the Holy See cared about, and because it was not in compliance with the basic principle of legal security.
