The Pope has said Croats need not fear a loss of identity or religion if they join the EU Pope Benedict XVI is due to make his first visit to the Balkans with a two-day trip to largely-Catholic Croatia.
The Pope has been a supporter of Croatia’s bid to join the EU, which would add another devoutly Catholic nation to the bloc.
But many Croats say they fear a loss of their national identity and religion if Croatia joins the EU, which is a possibility for 2013.
There have been criticisms of the $6m (£3.6m; 4m euros) cost of the visit.
The Vatican has long had a special relationship with Croatia, says the BBC’s Vatican correspondent David Willey.
On Saturday, Pope Benedict is scheduled to meet Croatian leaders and then give a speech.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said he expected the Pope to make “references to this bigger theme of the culture, tradition and identity of the Croatian people and their hopes of entering the EU”.
That hope may have flagged somewhat recently, say analysts, amid anger at the conviction in April by The Hague war crimes tribunal of Gen Ante Gotovina. He commanded Croatian forces during the war for independence from Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
Pope Benedict has previously said that Croatia need not worry about losing its identity by joining the EU and that the bloc needs to be reminded of its Christian history.
On Sunday, the Pope is scheduled to pray at the tomb of the controversial Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, who led Croatia’s church during World War II.
The cardinal was accused of collaborating with Croatia’s Nazi-allied rulers during the war and was sentenced to 16 years in prison following the war’s end.
Pope Benedict’s predecessor John Paul II put Cardinal Stepinac on the road to sainthood by beatifying him during a 1998 visit, one of three he made to Croatia.
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