AS THE crowds surge forward to welcome the Pope to Croatia this September, Croatia's diplomatically isolated President, Franjo Tudjman, can be expected to play a prominent role as Master of Ceremonies. For him and the other former Communists- turned-Catholics who run Croatia's ruling HDZ Party, a papal visit will crown the effort to realise what Mr Tudjman calls the "thousand year-old dream" of an independent Croatian state.

Huge crowds will attend the Pope's visit to Zagreb to honour the 900th anniversary of the diocese. Poland may claim to be semper fidelis, but Croatia rejoices in the no ...

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