(ANALYSIS) The recent trends of religious conversion have not rattled Kosovo’s politicians. Kosovo has been long seeking membership into the European Union, selling itself to the world as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious place. These conversions are building a political premise for them to prove that Kosovo is closer to Europe by trying to establish Catholicism as central to their identity given Europe’s strained relationship with Islam.
Read MoreOver the last 20 years, Serbia has been slowly improving its relationship with the Holy See. Last fall, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary of the Holy See for Relations with States, visited Serbia. During his visit, he met with the country’s president and prime minister as well as recently-elected Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church, telling the Serbian press that “Pope Francis is open for all invitations.”
Read MoreThe country responsible for the term “ethnic cleansing” can show off a respectable drop in religiously-motivated hate crimes over the last decade — at least on paper. But experts inside and outside Bosnia-Herzegovina say the IRC’s current numbers are misleading and the potential for conflict may be at an all-time high.
Read MoreHundreds of thousands of believers in the tiny Balkan country have been protesting a new law that would allow the government to take possession of property from the Serbian Orthodox Church.
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