Croatia appreciates the endeavours of Pope Francis to help stop Russia's invasion pf Ukraine and Croatia will support Ukraine as long as it is needed, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman said in the Vatican on Thursday.

The Croatian minister met with the Holy See’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, for the talks on the war in Ukraine and the state of affairs in southeast Europe, the ministry of foreign and European affairs said in a press release.

“We closely follow the messages and endeavours of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to help stop the Russian invasion and brutal war and we highly appreciate his strong messages for peace building,” Grlic-Radman said.

Croatia will continue supporting Ukraine as long as it is needed, reads the press release.

Concerning the developments in southeast Europe, Grlic-Radman said that Croatia strongly supports the genuine European inspirations of the countries in its neighbourhood and welcomes the recent recommendations made by the European Commission for Bosnia and Herzegovina to get a status of a candidate for the European Union membership.

The stability and functionality of Bosnia and Herzegovina are essential for the stability of the entire region and an European Bosnia and Herzegovina will be the country that makes sure that there is an equitable electoral process and a fair representativeness of all the three constituent peoples at all levels of the authority, said the Croatian official.

Cardinal Parolin and Grlic-Radman also discussed the protection of Christians worldwide.

Croatia is one of the 37 member countries of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA).

“The Alliance is predicated on the idea more must be done to protect members of religious minority groups and combat discrimination and persecution based on religion or belief,” according to the information on the IRFBA web site. “The Alliance brings together senior government representatives to discuss actions their nations can take together to promote respect for freedom of religion or belief and protect members of religious minority groups worldwide.”