After the new president Milo Đukanović, ten days ago, during his inauguration, announced the resolution of the church issue in Montenegro, judging that the controversies in that area are the most dangerous factor of destruction in the process of strengthening the Montenegrin identity, the talk about the Law on Freedom of Religion started. In the CPC, they say that the authorities have announced discussions about the draft of that act, which, they claim, is in the procedure.
"It is the same law from 2015 that was included in the procedure and was withdrawn for some, probably political, reasons," said Stevo Vučinić (CPC).
The Metropolitanate of the Montenegrin-Primorska Serbian Orthodox Church was not contacted nor did it participate in the discussion with the authorities about the new Draft Law
"According to those media announcements, we can gleefully conclude that the state has not moved away in principle from the proposal we had a few years ago, which was met with displeasure by the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic and Islamic religious communities in Montenegro," says Gojko Perović.
What is unacceptable for the Metropolis is crucial for the CPC, namely that, as they point out, the property issue should be regulated, i.e. that all temples, built from public revenues or by the joint efforts of citizens until December 1, 1918, should be state property.
"So, all the illegally transcribed property with an area of 12 square kilometers and dozens of churches, and half of the monasteries, were illegally transcribed to the Belgrade Patriarchate, as well as an article that regulates that every church and religious community must be re-registered at the time of passing that law," he says. Vucinic.
"As for the property until 1918, it boils with arbitrariness, with raw nationalism and with something that is certainly contrary to the principles of a democratic and secular state. To this day, no positive legal act of the state of Montenegro requires the registration of the church before the institutions of this state and which did it come to mind in the Ministry of Police or I don't know who, let him see what he is basing his request on, we have studied the laws well," adds Perović.
There are other issues about which opinions are conflicting.
#The question of spreading the competences of religious communities, so religious communities registered in Montenegro can have competences only within Montenegro, they cannot overlap outside the state borders", Vučinić believes.
"With this new law, the state is trying to reduce the church, its administrative functionality and its jurisdiction to the borders of Montenegro, which is not the case with any Orthodox church in the world," states Perović.
And while the CPC expects a new law soon, the Metropolis of Montenegro and the Littoral say that, if the authorities do not listen to this issue, they will find a way to present it to the environment and the international community.
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