The State, the Vatican, the Croatian Church, the local diocese and Praglia’s Benedictine monks are all implicated in the intricate case involving the historic monastery.
Now comes the scandalous of the Bishop of Poreč and Pula.
Mgr. Ivan Milovan is at the centre of the age-old dispute between the diocese and the Benedictine monks of Praglia (Padua, Italy) concerning the ownership of Dajla monastery in the region of Istria, which was once part of Italy but was ceded to the then Yugoslavia after the Second World War.
The monastery had been seized by the Communist regime and later returned to the diocese of Poreč and Pula.
The monsignor has now decided to give up his role as Croatian bishop of Poreč and Pula.
The Pope accepted his resignation n accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law, “because of illness or some other grave reason, has become unsuited for the fulfilment of his office.”
Last September the Holy See had contested the decision taken by Zagreb’s minister of justice in an administrative court to annul all decisions taken between 1997 and 2002, for the transferral of the ownership of Djala monastery from the state to the Croatian Catholic Church.
After it was returned to the state, the Vatican - which had decided to hand the monastery back to the Italian Benedictine monks - lost its jurisdiction over the complex.
In August 2011 the Holy See had adopted a provision to restore “as far as is possible today, the condition determined by the testamentary intent of the original benefactor which, due to historical vicissitudes, was not respected for many years” and to ask the Diocese to compensate Praglia Abbey for the assets which the Diocese had either lost or is unable to return.
“The compensation sum is to be considered purely as a forfeit, given that the value of the assets lost by the Diocese is far greater.”