The Vatican has in the past shown "appropriate responsibility" when it comes to concerns over the fate of Christian heritage in Kosovo.

This is what Serbia's UNESCO ambassador Darko Tanaskovic told the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti, adding, "It would of course be very valuable if they shared that concern as actively as possible with Catholics around the world."

Tanaskovic was asked whether the Catholic Church "could stand in defense of the Serb (Orthodox) heritage in Kosovo and Metohija as Christian heritage."

All this comes after announcements that authorities in Pristina planned to apply for Kosovo's membership in UNESCO - something Belgrade strongly opposes.

According to Tanaskovic, the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) "is in constructive dialogue with the Holy See."

He thinks the SPC "could make significant contribution to strengthening awareness, both among the political public and decision-makers in some countries, that it would be unacceptable to admit to UNESCO those who are objective perpetrators of the desecration and destruction of Serb medieval monuments in Kosovo and Metohija."

Asked to comment on a statement by Petrit Selimi, a deputy minister in the Pristina institutions, who said that Kosovo's membership in UNESCO would "only serve to improve the position of the Serb heritage in Kosovo," Tanaskovic said this was "one of the main arguments that advocates of Kosovo's admission have been using in the international community."

"We don't have any reason at all to believe them. Our people don't need to be told why. However, the reasons for our deep mistrust must be explained persistently and with arguments to foreigners," Tanaskovic concluded.

Earlier, SPC Bishop Irinej of Backa stated that the Church "will heed the call of Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic and join the diplomatic effort to prevent a possible admission of Kosovo to UNESCO by seeking the support of all sister Orthodox churches in the world, but also the Vatican."

Irinej told Belgrade-based daily Politika that Dacic saw Kosovo's "sly intention of appropriating Serbian Orthodox religious and cultural heritage."

"I think that our government should include in the negotiating team representatives of the SPC, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Matica Srpska, the Serbian Diaspora and perhaps a few others, but as authentic participants, not just mere consultants," said the bishop, who is also the SPC spokesperson.

He pointed out that the SPC should also turn to the Vatican, which does not recognize the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo made in 2008 by ethnic Albanians, although, as he put it, "this may cause hysteria, especially among 'iron-Serbs' and 'super-Orthodox believers' and especially those who never set foot on the martyred ground of Kosovo and Metohija, never defended it, neither with the gun nor with the pen; some of them, moreover, betrayed it."