Belgrade Archbishop: We Are Fighting Circumstances That Drive the Best, the Educated Out of Serbia

Belgrade Archbishop, Ladislav Nemet (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Belgrade Archbishop Ladislav Nemet said in his Easter epistle on March 31 that the resurrection of Christ was an event meant to encourage the struggle against societal violence, corruption and circumstances which were driving the best, educated people to leave Serbia en masse.

"If we continue like this, in 30 years Serbia will be miserable, poor and have half the population that it has today. And then death will triumph here, not the Resurrection," Archbishop Nemet said on the occasion of Easter according to the Gregorian calendar.

As for international circumstances, the archbishop's epistle pointed out that the state of affairs was similar to the worst period during the Cold War, and noted that many wars were raging around the world.

In a separate statement to the Politika daily, Nemet said the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church patriarch Porfirije personally had nothing against pope Francis visiting Serbia and had told him the Church Synod would discuss it. "As for the Orthodox Church, patriarch Porfirije told me last summer that [the Church] would consider the matter," the archbishop said.