This Saturday, the thirtieth “Silent Mass” will be held in Trogir , a collective intervention in public space by artist Arijana Lekić-Fridrih. The “Silent Mass” is being held as a reaction to men who allegedly kneel in prayer every first Saturday of the month in about a dozen cities across Croatia. The silent mass is dedicated to two victims of femicide, two women who lost their lives in Benkovac and Zagreb at the hands of family members. As a reminder, these are the third and fourth femicide in 2025. Last year, 18 women were killed, and the year before that – there were half as many victims – nine. Therefore, we cannot conclude that the changes to the criminal law helped prevent this most tragic outcome for women, the one that most often occurs in the victim’s own home, where women are most insecure.
In parallel with this trend, for two years and six months, every first Saturday of the month in Croatia, gatherings have been taking place that, through the symbolism of praying the rosary, emphasize the additional inequality of women, restricting their free movement and calling for the reduction of their constitutionally guaranteed civil rights. The parallel and regular holding of the Silent Mass of Arijana Lekić-Fridrih and civic initiatives throughout Croatia indicate the systematic transmission of messages of hatred by groups of men towards women, as well as the fact that we have reached a situation in which women are not safe and are once again fighting for their long-acquired rights. Today, when we know that behind these “prayers” stands the Ordo Iuris Foundation, we do not have to wonder what future they are preparing for us, but we will fight so that those who come after us do not have to fight such battles and we will leave behind a society in which women are equal, protected before the law and far from the margins on which most women find themselves today. In this fight, unfortunately, we do not have allies in the politicians who have the responsibility to respond to such social anomalies, but we hope that in May, the month in which local elections will be held, we will at least hear apologies or explanations as to why this has been the case for more than a year and whether this is the Croatia they see after the upcoming elections. We also remind you of the measures that counties, cities and municipalities can introduce in their communities and save women’s lives.
Finally, it is up to us as responsible citizens to warn for the THIRTY-FIFTH time about a public, organized and paid campaign that calls for inequality that is guaranteed to us by the Constitution – regardless of whether it takes place in the form of a ‘praying’ to the rosary. Every citizen of this country has the right to report a gathering as long as the message of the gathering does not violate or suppress the freedom of others. The gathering we are against explicitly calls for the subordinate role of women. Our message is clear and one: women in this society need to be protected from violence – from “prayer” and from within the family. As a state, we do not have strong enough mechanisms for this, women may have become a political topic today, but they are still left to their own devices, unequal in every respect, both in life and death.
