The president of the Croatian Bishops' Conference (HBK), Drazen Kutlesa, said in his first interview as Archbishop of Zagreb that he would respect the tradition of church continuity to which different people had contributed, and that "Church and state must cooperate, but in a correct way".

The Church is always, I would say, a continuity. Various people who have worked in this field have contributed to what we have. First of all, we must respect that tradition, Archbishop Kutlesa said on Thursday in an interview for the Croatian Catholic Network, which was also published by the Catholic Information Agency (IKA).

Monsignor Kutlesa also said that “Church and state must cooperate, but in a correct way, so that everyone is independent in their area. It is never good for the secular government to interfere in church affairs, and vice versa”. He also underscored the importance of cooperation in the social field.

The issue of building hospices, hospitals, kindergartens and schools is what we need and must spread in the society and evangelise in different ways. The state will say that this is a social dimension, but we call it charitable love. In essence, we come to the same thing. I think we are directed at each other, said Kutlesa.