 As coadjutor, Perić assisted Bishop Žanić in attempting to implement the decree.The parties were still working on the full implementation as late as December 1998, when a joint statement was issued by the Most Revd.Archbishop Marcello Zago, OMI, Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Franciscan Minister General, Brother Giacomo Bini, and Bishop Perić, which read in part, "The Holy See and the Order intend to keep informed regarding the progress of the transfer.