Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic begins his official visit to the Vatican today.

According to the press service of the President of Serbia, he will be received by Pope Francis and will meet with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

"I am going to the Vatican to meet the Pope and to beg them not to recognize Kosovo," Vucic told reporters in Belgrade recently.

Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister, Ivica Dacic said he thinks the Pope Francis visit to Serbia, would be useful, Tanjug news agency reported.

“You know my stance. I made it public several times. I think it would be useful for Serbia and Serbian people in general,” Dacic said, after ceremonial liturgy at the Church of  Holly Virgin Maria, held to commemorate Armistice Day and the end of the WWI.

Dacic also noted, that relations with the Vatican are often viewed through the problems that existed in relation with the Church in Croatia and Second World War.

Pope Francis' visit would be of state and national interest to Serbia, which is why it is important to achieve consensus in our country, says Ivica Dacic.

The foreign minister and first deputy PM also said that the role of the Vatican is invaluable as Serbia fights for Kosovo and Metohija. Dacic added that he understands the opposiiton of the Serbian Orthodox Church to the visit, but that the pope is not only a religious leader, but also a statesman.

Only a day after the Serb Orthodox Church (SPC) Patriarch said it was still not time for the head of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Serbia, the country Foreign Minister said Pope Francis should come.

Ivica Dacic told the Belgrade daily Politika on Wednesday that there would be no better Pope for Serbia and that he believed that the current head of the Roman Catholic Church should visit the country.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic on Saturday received State Secretary of the Holy See Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Serbian government announced.

Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Behgjet Pacolli, met the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher and spoke about recent developments in Kosovo and the strengthening of bilateral relations. According to a press release issued by Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry after the meeting, Pacolli spoke of the need for intensification of contacts between Kosovo and Vatican, increase of the level of representation and the recognition of Kosovo as an independent state.

Pope Francis, hosted today at the Holy See in Vatican, a private audience with the President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci.

“Thaci stressed that Kosovo has continued to preserve patience, faith and values that we have as society – love and solidarity in family and society, respect for everyone’s dignity, tolerance and cooperation,” informs a press release issued by the Office of the President of Kosovo.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, accepted the invitation of Tomislav Nikolić to visit Serbia. In order for this visit to be realized, the invitation should be renewed by new President Aleksandar Vučić, but an agreement should also be reached with the Serbian Orthodox Church" – says Archbishop Luciano Suriani, Apostolic Nuncio in Serbia, in this interview for CorD Magazine.

The President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi said that normalization of the relations between Serbs and Albanians does not pass from Belgrade to Tirana, but through Pristina to the other territories.

Serbian Ambassador to UNESCO and the country's former ambassador to the Vatican Darko Tanaskovic say he does not believe Pope Francis will visit Kosovo.

Tanaskovic also noted that even if that were to happen, "it would not have to mean that the Vatican had recognized, or was going to recognize, Kosovo."