Religions and languages in Croatia

Croatia mostly professes Christianity like most modern European Countries. However, historically there was some confrontation between Orthodox and Catholics. Therefore, the percentage ratio of these Christian faiths was constantly changing. It should be noted that even in the 7th century, Croatia became the first country to abandon the Old Slavonic religions and beliefs, replacing the pagan worldview with the Christian one. During this period, not one of the Slavic countries had yet to take up Christianity. Among the Christians themselves, there was no unity since Catholicism and Orthodoxy were equally spread across the territory of the modern country.

Based on historical facts, we can conclude that Croatia up to the 10th century was subordinate to the Byzantine Church, so most of the believers were still Orthodox. Service in the Churches was held not only in the Croatian language, but also in the Old Church Slavonic. But with the arrival of the new King in the 11th century, Missionaries from the Roman Catholic Church began to actively operate in the Country which gradually converted Orthodox Christians to Catholics. It was during this period that the official vow of celibacy was introduced for all Priests. The Church itself was given much more rights. It was also exempted from taxation. However, it was forbidden to use Croatian for Church events. At that time, the main language of the Roman Church was Latin. Therefore, King Kresimir forced the Croats to switch to Latin instead of the native language.

Today, it is difficult to say which Denomination of Christianity dominates in Croatia. Until the beginning of the 20th century, Catholics and Orthodox peacefully coexisted in the country. However, the Country was divided both territorially and according to religious views. Just before the outbreak of World War II, Catholic beliefs were abolished, Priests were often arrested for serving the Roman Church, and the parishioners themselves were severely punished. It was only at the time of the economic crisis which was provoked in the nineties, that the Catholic faith regained its power and took the dominant position in Croatia. The fact is that during this period many Orthodox Serbs left the Country because of difficult financial situations, going to more successful European States. Since then, Catholics account for about 70% of the total religious population. Despite this, Croatia adheres to European standards; therefore it is quite tolerant to followers of other faiths. It should be noted that currently, about one and a half percent of Muslims, and about one percent of Protestants live in the Republic. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

Croatia is a multinational country. To date, its territory is home to quite a few immigrants from neighboring countries such as Romania, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia and even Albania. At the same time, about 92% of the total population is considered indigenous. Therefore, the official language at the state level is recognized as Croatian. It is used not only inside State Institutions, but even in Embassies. It is also spoken in everyday life by locals. In a small part of the country, particularly on the peninsula of Istria, the Italian language was also given the status of official language. In order not to infringe upon the rights of citizens of the Country belonging to other nationalities, the Croatian government has also approved a number of languages ​​for the so-called National Minorities. These include Slovenian, Hungarian, Serbian, Czech and Albanian.

It is worth noting that the Croatian language itself is mostly similar to Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Nevertheless, Croatian (the written language) and Latin are still adopted by these Minorities. In addition to the generally recognized literary Croatian language, the population in different regions also uses historically developed dialects. Thus, even in the middle of the 19th century, the Serbs wanted to unite with the Croats on the language level. The Kajkavian dialect is widespread (about 28% of the population apply it in their everyday life) and the Chakavian is a local dialect. Dialects differ significantly from each other not only in writing, but also in pronunciation. Therefore, residents of the opposite depths of the republics may not even understand each other’s speech. Nevertheless, everyone still owns the official state Croatian language.