Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic has been informed of the news that the Roman Catholic Church in the Austrian federal state of Carinthia has rejected the Croatian Bishops Conference's (HBK) request to hold a religious service at Bleiburg.

Since the Bleiburg commemoration is held under the parliament's auspices, he plans first to hold talks with the organisers of the event and then decide how to proceed and coordinate future actions.

The Roman Catholic Church in Carinthia has turned down the HBK's request to hold a mass at Loibach, a field near Bleiburg, because the event is used for political purposes, the local church said earlier in the day.

According to sources close to Parliament Speaker Jandrokovic, talks will first be held with the Honorary Bleiburg Platoon and the Croatian Bishops Conference, which are the organisers of the commemoration, after which a decision will be made as to what to do next.

Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejcinovic Buric would not comment on the decision of the Catholic Church in Austria either, saying only that a mass was the most appropriate way to commemorate victims of World War II.

The Bleiburg commemorations are held in tribute to tens of thousands of Croatian civilians and soldiers of the defeated Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia who surrendered to allied forces there in May 1945, but were handed over by British troops to Yugoslav forces. Many were executed on the spot, while many perished during so-called death marches back to Yugoslavia.

“One should not comment on other countries’ actions… for us Bleiburg is a place of remembrance and commemoration of the victims,” Pejcinovic Buric told reporters.

The secretary of the Klagenfurt Diocese, Msgr. Engelbert Guggenberger, believes that the mass held in the field near Bleiburg “has become part of an event that is used for political purposes and is part of a political and national ritual that serves for the selective perception and interpretation of history.”

In a statement that explains the decision not to grant permission for the religious service, planned for May 18 this year, the Catholic Church in Carinthia says that the decision was made after a thorough analysis of the 2018 gathering at Bleiburg as well as numerous conversations between representatives of the Austrian and Croatian bishops conferences, which also included believers of the Croat community in Carinthia and representatives of Austrian security authorities.

Even though the Bleiburg gathering is held on a private property, holding a religious service there requires permission from the local church.

Since last year Austria has been treating the Bleiburg commemoration more critically, at the initiative of several Austrian members of the European Parliament. Recently, a law went into force banning the display of Ustasha symbols, dating back to the time of the NDH.