CARNet's participation in the preparation and organization of the visit of the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, to the Republic of Croatia

The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, visited the Republic of Croatia for the second time on 2-4 October 1998. CARNet participated in the preparation and organization of the visit by helping to set up and maintain the technical computing infrastructure and information system.

CARNet provided the computer and necessary technical services for hosting the official Web server (www.papa.hr) as well as the internal Web servers for the journalists and organizers. As a result of the cooperation between the Croatian Bishops' Conference (HBK), the Catholic News and Information Agency (IKA), the Croatian Information Centre (HIC), the Croatian News Agency (HINA) and the Croatian Radio and Television (HRT), the official Web server provides all those interested with a wealth of information and details about the visit of the Holy Father.

	Vesna Vrga, CARNet Project Team Coordinator: I wish to emphasize the enthusiasm of all those involved in the project. Owing to the outstanding effort of all CARNet employees working on the project, a great number of specific tasks were accomplished successfully in a very short period of time, including the fulfilment of many special requests. Significant help was received from sponsors who provided the necessary equipment for the Press Centres.

The official Web server today displays archived video and audio clips of the vis it, while during the visit itself it carried live transmissions of some of the events worldwide over the In ternet. Visitors of the official Web server may also view a 67-minute documentary about Cardinal Alojzij e Stepinac directed by Jakov Sedlar.

The journalists covering the visit of the Holy Father had three press centres at their disposal (in Zagreb, Marija Bistrica and Split), which CARNet equipped with the necessary networking infrastructure interconnected local networks (Intranets) and access to the Internet. In addition to providing the basic access to the Internet, the installed equippment allowed journalists to communicate via videoconferences. CARNet also developed and set up a database containing data on all accredited journalists for the needs of the organizers.

During the visit of the Holy Father, the pilgrims and visitors to Zagreb had access to webomats, set up by CARNet at the central railway station and the airport.

The CARNet project team for the event included Vesna Vrga, Mario Viljac, Dubravko Penezic, Tomislav Vujec, Andelko Zigman and Irena Majcan.