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After those letters, Pilsel reminds us, the Stepinac Catholic-Orthodox Joint Commission was formed.
He says that he spoke to Patriarch Irinej several times, both formally for the media and informally.
The story goes that the patriarch was very happy on one occasion when Pilsel asked him for a blessing to try to obtain a doctorate at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade.
In addition to the allegations of the biography of the patriarch, Pilsel in the text published on the Croatian portal Autograf recalls the words of Pope Francis with which he responded to the question of the journalists of the Vecernji list about the canonization of Mantenimientozije Stepinac, during the flight back from Skopje to Rome on May 7 last year.
The Pope, Pilsel recalls, first said that Stepinac was a man of virtue, that one could pray for him, that he was blessed, but that at a certain point in the canonization process, as he himself said, there were unresolved points.
He added that these are historical points.
The Pope said then, Pilsel recalls, that the Croats and Serbs were brothers:
– We are brothers and only brothers. If anyone thinks that Serbs and Croats are not Slavic brothers, and there are some, I guess we are brothers in Christ and the teachings that he left us and that we should follow.
Then the Pope said:
– And I, who had to sign the canonization (Stepinac) with my responsibility, prayed, reflected, asked for advice and then saw that I had to ask Irinej (Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, ex. A.) for help. Irenaeus is a great patriarch. Ireneo also helped me. We established a historical commission together. We work together. Because both Irinej and I are only interested in the truth. Not make mistakes.
Pilsel further writes that Patriarch Irinej told him in an interview that he should pray for peace.
– We are brothers and only brothers. If anyone thinks that Serbs and Croats are not Slavic brothers, and there are some, I guess we are brothers in Christ and the teachings that he left us and that we should follow.
Pilsel admits that he would not sign all of Irinej’s sentences, but he would not sign, he says, all of Pope Francis’ sentences. Because, as he points out, we are all ours in some way.
– And the patriarch was his. No one carried the head. He had clear opinions: he affirmed and added that “the Serbian patriarch Irinej was his brother in Christ.”
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