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→Relations with other Orthodox countries
John Paul II visited other heavily Orthodox areas such as [[Church of Ukraine|Ukraine]], despite lack of welcome at times, and he said that an end to the Schism was one of his fondest wishes.
With regard to the relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church, Pope John Paul II could not escape the controversy of the involvement of Croatian Catholic clergy with the Ustasa regime of World War II. He beatified WWII-time archibishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepinac, in 1998, the Croatian war-time archbishop of Zagreb, convicted for colaboration with Croatian Ustašas fascist regime in 1946. This move was seen negatively by Serbian Church and Serbian people. On June 22, 2003, he visited Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a main city of Serbian Orthodox population in Bosnia. He held a Mass at the Petrićevac monastery. It's friars participated in killing Serbs during the World War II (most notorius of them was Fra Stjepan Filipovic [[w:Miroslav Majstorović|Miroslav Filipović Majstorović]]). Orthodox Bishop of Banja Luka Jefrem refused to attended the Mass because Pope did not express his regreat. They met later that day."
