Aloysius Stepinac
Encyclopedia
Aloysius Viktor Stepinac , also known as Blessed Aloysius Stepinac, was a Croatian
Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 to 1960. In 1998 he was declared a martyr
and beatified
by Pope John Paul II
.
Stepinac was ordained on October 26, 1930 by archbishop Giuseppe Palica
, and in 1931 he became a parish curate in Zagreb
. He established the archdiocesan branch of Caritas
in 1931, and was appointed coadjutor to the see of Zagreb in 1934. When Archbishop Anton Bauer died on December 7, 1937, Stepinac succeeded him as the Archbishop of Zagreb. During World War II
, on 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia
was invaded by Nazi Germany
, who established the Ustaše
-led Independent State of Croatia
. As archbishop of the puppet state's capital, Stepinac had close associations with the Ustaše leaders during the Nazi occupation, had issued proclamations celebrating the NDH, and welcomed the Ustaše leaders. Stepinac also objected against the persecution of Jews and Nazi laws, helped Jews and others to escape and criticized Ustaše atrocities in front of Zagreb Cathedral
in 1943.
After the war he publicly condemned the new Yugoslav government and its actions during World War II, especially for murders of priests by Communist militants. Yugoslav authorities indicted the archbishop on multiple counts of war crimes and collaboration
with the enemy during wartime. The trial was depicted in the West as a typical communist "show trial", biased against the archbishop; however, some claim the trial was "carried out with proper legal procedure". In a verdict that polarized public opinion both in Yugoslavia and beyond, the Yugoslav authorities found him guilty of collaboration
with the fascist
Ustaše movement and complicity in allowing the forced conversions of Orthodox
Serbs
to Catholicism
.
After foreign and domestic pressure, Stepinac was released from Lepoglava prison
. In 1952 he was appointed cardinal by Pope Pius XII
. Stepinac died while still under confinement in his parish, almost certainly as the result of poisoning by his Communist captors. In October 3, 1998, Pope John Paul II
declared him a martyr
and beatified
him before 500,000 Croatians in Marija Bistrica
near Zagreb. This again polarized public opinion.
to study in the Classical Gymnasium
and graduated in 1916. Just before his eighteenth birthday he was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army
. He was attached to the 96th Karlovac Infantry Regiment before going to Rijeka
for six months training. He was then sent to serve on the Italian Front
during World War I
. In July 1918 he was captured by the Italians who held him as a prisoner of war for five months. After the formation of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
, he was no longer treated as an enemy soldier, and he instead volunteered for the Yugoslav legion that was engaged on the Salonika Front. A few months later, he was demobilized with the rank of Second Lieutenant
and returned home in the spring of 1919.
For service in the Yugoslav forces during World War I, he was awarded the Order of the Star of Karađorđe, an award for heroism in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
. After the war he enrolled at the faculty of agronomy of the University of Zagreb
, but left it after only one semester and returned home to help his father. In 1922 Stepinac was part of the Croatian Eagles Association
and traveled to the Catholic Eagle slet
in Brno
, Czechoslovakia
. He was at the front of the group's ceremonial procession, carrying a Croatian flag. In 1924, he traveled to Rome to study for the priesthood at the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum
. During his studies there he befriended the future cardinal Franz König when the two played together on the same volleyball team. He was ordained on October 26, 1930 by archbishop Giuseppe Palica
in a ceremony which also included Franjo Šeper
. On November 1, he said his first mass at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
. In 1931 he became a parish curate in Zagreb
. He established the archdiocesan branch of Caritas
in 1931.
because king Alexander I of Yugoslavia
needed to agree with the appointment. Upon his naming, he took In te, Domine, speravi (O Lord, in Thee have I trusted) as his motto. During this period, King Alexander ran a dictatorship in the country. Stepinac was among those who signed the Zagreb memorandum demanding from the king the release of Vladko Maček
and other Croatian politicians, as well as a general amnesty. Stepinac was denied access by Yugoslav authorities to see Maček to thank him for his well-wishes concerning Stepinac's appointment as coadjutor.
King Alexander was assassinated in Marseilles in 1934, and Stepinac along with Bishops Antun Akšamović, Dionizije Njaradi and Gregorij Rožman
were given special permission from the Holy See
to attend the funeral in an Orthodox church. Croatian politician Ante Trumbić
spoke to Stepinac on several occasions in 1934. On his relation with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
, he recorded that Stepinac has "loyalty to the state as it is, but with the condition that the state acts towards the Catholic Church as it does to all just denominations and that it guarantees them freedom". On July 30 he received French deputy Robert Schuman
, whom he told: "There is no justice in Yugoslavia. [...] The Catholic Church endures much".
In 1936, he climbed the Mount Triglav
, the tallest peak in Yugoslavia
. In 2006 this climb was commemorated by a memorial chapel being built near the summit. In 1937 he led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land
(then the British Mandate of Palestine). During the pilgrimage he blessed an altar dedicated to the martyr Nikola Tavelić
(who was beatified then, but later canonized).
On December 7, 1937 Archbishop Anton Bauer died, and though still below the age of forty. Stepinac succeeded him as the Archbishop of Zagreb. During Lent
in 1938, Stepinac told a group of students from the University of Zagreb
: "Love towards one's own nation cannot turn a man into a wild animal, which destroys everything and calls for reprisal, but it must ennoble him, so that his own nation secures respect and love for other nations." In 1938, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia held its last election before the outbreak of World War II
. Stepinac voted for Vlatko Maček's opposition list, while Radio Belgrade
spread the false information that he had voted for Milan Stojadinović
's Yugoslav Radical Union
. In the latter half of 1938, Stepinac had an operation for acute appendicitis.
In response to growing tensions in Europe, in 1936 Stepinac helped sponsor a committee aiding Jewish refuges from Austria and Germany. Then in April 1939 Dr. Dragutin Hren spoke to Stepinac about a group of Croatian Discalced Carmelite nuns from Mayerling
who were being pressured by the German Nazis. Stepinac decided to accept the group and place them at a mansion in Brezovica
. Stepinac spent October 6, 1939 in Ivanić-Grad where he administered confirmation for the local parish. In 1940, he received Prince Paul
at St. Mark's Church
as the prince arrived in Zagreb to curry support for the Cvetković-Maček Agreement
. Under Stepinac, Pope Pius XII declared 1940 as a Jubilee
year for Croats
to celebrate 1300 years of Christianity among the Croats. In 1940, the Franciscan Order celebrated 700 years in Croatia and the order's minister general Leonardo Bello came to Zagreb for the event. During his visit Stepinac joined the Franciscan Third Order, on September 29, 1940.
, on 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia
was invaded by Nazi Germany
and its allies. The (Allied
) Yugoslav forces maintained a defence up until 17 April. On 10 April 1941, the Wehrmacht occupied Zagreb
. Having previously agreed to form a Croatian satellite, the Germans and Italians established therein the Independent State of Croatia
, and installed the Ustaše movement into power. Fiercely nationalistic, the Ustaše were also fanatically Catholic. In the Yugoslav political context, they identified Catholicism with Croatian nationalism and, once established in power, set about persecuting and murdering non-Catholics."Fiercely nationalistic, the Ustaše were also fanatically Catholic. In the Yugoslav political context, they identified Catholicism with Croatian nationalism and, once established in power, set about persecuting and murdering non-Catholics."
As the archbishop of the capital, Stepinac enjoyed close associations with the Ustaše leaders. When the Ustaše arrived, following the capitulation of Allied Yugoslavia, he publicly welcomed their arrival and issued proclamations celebrating the NDH. Among other such occasions, on April 21, 1941 the Catholic newspaper Katolički List, over which Stepinac had full control as president of the bishops' conference, reported that he had welcomed Ustaše leaders in meetings on April 12 and 16. With the Yugoslav army still fighting the invaders, this was high treason
and constituted collaboration
with the enemy. It meant Stepinac, a Yugoslav citizen, had breached the oath of allegiance he had given his King when appointed coadjutor. Even though (with the exception of the Axis) no state around the world, including the Vatican, recognized the NDH as a sovereign nation, Stepinac publicly exhorted his hierarchy to pray for the Independent State of Croatia
, and publicly called for God to "fill the Ustaše
leader, Ante Pavelić
, with a spirit of wisdom for the benefit of the nation".
On more than one occasion, the archbishop professed his support for the Independent State of Croatia and welcomed the demise of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
, and continued to do so throughout the war. On April 10 each year during the war he celebrated a mass to celebrate proclamation of the Ustaše state. In his reports to the Vatican Stepinac spoke only favourably about the regime, and on March 28, 1941 he had made clear his own attitude to the problems of coexistence of the two peoples:
However, during the war on several occasions Stepinac criticized the Ustaše atrocities to certain leaders in private, but continued to give communion to Ustaše leaders and made no public comments about their activities, ignoring complaints about the atrocities and forced conversions, particularly those described to him in great detail by Bishop Alojzije Mišić
of Mostar
.
Upon hearing news of the Glina massacre
, on May 14, 1941 Stepinac sent a letter to Pavelić, requesting that "on the whole territory of the Independent State of Croatia, not one Serb is killed if he is not proven guilty for what he has deserved death." When hearing of the racial laws being enacted, he asked: "We...appeal to you to issue regulations so that even in the framework of antisemitic legislation, and similar legislation concerning Serbs, the principles of human dignity be preserved." On Sunday May 24, 1942 he condemned racial persecution in general terms, though he did not specifically mention Serbs
. He stated in a diocesan letter:
In a sermon on October 25, 1942, he further commentated on racial acceptance:
After the release of left-wing activist Ante Ciliga from Jasenovac in January 1943, Stepinac requested a meeting with him to learn about what was occurring at the camp. He also wrote directly to Pavelić, saying on 24 February 1943, "The Jasenovac camp itself is a shameful stain on the honor of the [Independent State of Croatia]."
Later Stepinac advised individual priests to admit Orthodox believers to the Catholic Church if their lives were in danger, such that this conversion had no validity, allowing them to return to their faith once the danger passed.
Stepinac was involved directly and indirectly in efforts to save Jews from persecution. Amiel Shomrony
, alias Emil Schwartz, was the personal secretary of Miroslav Šalom Freiberger
(the chief rabbi
in Zagreb
) until 1942. In the actions for saving Jews, Shomrony acted as the mediator between the chief rabbi and Stepinac. He later stated that he considered Stepinac "truly blessed" since he did the best he could for the Jews during the war. Allegedly the Ustaša government at this point agitated at the Holy See
for him to be removed from the position of archbishop of Zagreb, this however was refused due to the fact that the Vatican did not recognize the Ustaše state (despite Italian pressure). Stepinac and the papal nuncio to Belgrade
mediated with Royal Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops, urging that the Yugoslav
Jews be allowed to take refuge in the occupied Balkan territories to avoid deportation. He also arranged for Jews to travel via these territories to the safe, neutral states of Turkey
and Spain, along with Istanbul
-based nuncio Angelo Roncalli
. He sent some Jews for safety to Rev. Dragutin Jeish, who was killed during the war by the Ustaše on suspicion of supporting the Partisans.
In 1942, officials from Hungary
lobbied to attach the Hungarian-occupied Međimurje ecclesiastically to a diocese in Hungary. Stepinac opposed this and received guarantees from the Holy See that diocesan boundaries would not change during the war. On October 26, 1943 the Germans killed the archbishop's brother Mijo Stepinac. In 1944, Stepinac received the Polish Pauline
priest Salezy Strzelec, who wrote about the archbishop, Zagreb, and Marija Bistrica upon his return to Poland.
The Catholic Church in Croatia has also had to contend with criticism of what some has seen as a passive stance towards the Ustaša policy of religious conversion
whereby some Serbs - but not the intelligentsia element - were able to escape other persecution by adopting the Catholic faith.
While Stepinac did suspend a number of priests, he only had the authority to do so within his own diocese; he had no power to suspend other priests or bishops outside of Zagreb.
After the war, on May 17, 1945, Stepinac was arrested. On June 2, Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito
met with representatives of the Archdiocese of Zagreb. The following day, he was released from custody. On June 4 Stepinac met with Tito but no agreement was reached between them. On June 22, the bishops of Croatia released a public letter accusing the Yugoslav authorities of injustices and crimes towards them. On June 28, Stepinac wrote a letter to the government of the Croatia asking for an end to the prosecution of Nazi collaborationists
(collaboration having been widespread in occupied Yugoslavia). On July 10, Stepinac's secretary Stjepan Lacković travelled to Rome. While he was there, the Yugoslav authorities forbade him to return. In August, a new land reform law was introduced which legalized the confiscation of 85 percent of church holdings in Yugoslavia.
During the same period the archbishop almost certainly had ties with the post-war Ustaše
(fascist) guerrillas, the "Crusaders", and actively worked against the state. From September 17 to 22 1945, a synod of the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia
was held in Zagreb which discussed the confrontation with the government. On October 20 Stepinac published a letter in which he made the claim that "273 clergymen had been killed" since the Partisan take-over, "169 had been imprisoned", and another "89 were missing and presumed dead". Similar numbers were later published.
In response to this letter Tito spoke out publicly against Stepinac for the first time by writing an editorial on 25 October in the communist party's newspaper Borba accusing Stepinac of declaring war on the fledgling new Yugoslavia. Consequently on November 4 Stepinac had stones thrown at him by a crowd of Partisans in Zaprešić
. Tito had established "brotherhood and unity
" as the federation's over-arching objective and central policy, one which he did not want threatened by internal agitation. In addition, with the escalating Cold War conflict and increased concerns over both Western and Soviet infiltration (see Tito-Stalin split
), the Yugoslav government did not tolerate further internal subversion within the potentially fragile new federation.
In an effort to put a stop to the archbishop's activities, Tito attempted to reach an accord with Stepinac, and achieve a greater degree of independence for the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia and Croatia. Stepinac refused to break from the Vatican, and continued to publicly condemn the communist government. Tito, however, was reluctant to bring him to trial, in spite of condemning evidence which was available. Abandoning the strive towards increased Church independence, Tito first attempted to persuade Stepinac to cease his activities. When this too failed, in January 1946 the federal government attempted to solicit his replacement with the Vatican
, a request that was denied. Finally, Stepinac was himself asked to leave the country, which he refused. On September 1946 the Yugoslav authorities indicted Stepinac on multiple counts of war crimes and collaboration
with the enemy during wartime. Milovan Đilas, a prominent leader in the Party, stated that Stepinac would never have been brought to trial "had he not continued to oppose the new Communist regime."
with the occupation forces, relations with the Ustaše regime, having chaplains in the Ustaše army as religious agitators, forceful conversions of Serb Orthodox to Catholicism at gunpoint and high treason against the Yugoslav government. Stepinac was arrested on September 18, 1946 and his trial started on September 30, 1946, where he was tried alongside former officials of the Ustaše government including Erih Lisak (sentenced to death) and Ivan Šalić. Altogether there were 16 defendants.
The prosecution presented their evidence for the archbishop's collaboration with the Ustaše regime. Numerous witnesses were heard concerning the killings and forced conversions members of Aloysius Stepinac's military vicariate performed, explaining that "forced conversions" were more often than not followed by the slaughter of the new "converts" (which is the main cause of their infamy). In relation to these events the prosecution pointed out that even if the archbishop did not explicitly order them, he also did nothing to stop them or punish those within the church who were responsible. They also pointed out the disproportionate number of chaplains in the NDH armed forces and attempted to present in detail his relationship with the Ustaše authorities. The Vatican was not excluded of implication in these accusations.
On October 3, as part of the fourth day of the proceedings, Stepinac gave a lengthy 38-minute speech during which he laid down his views on the legitimacy of the trial. He claimed that the process was a "show trial", that he was being attacked in order for the state to attack the Church, and that "no religious conversions were done in bad faith". He went on to state that "My conscience is clear and calm. If you will not give me the right, history will give me that right", and that he did not intend to defend himself or appeal against a conviction, and that he is prepared to take ridicule, disdain, humiliation and death for his beliefs. He claimed that the military vicariate in the Independent State of Croatia was created to address the needs of the faithful among the soldiers and not for the army itself, nor as a sign of approval of all action by the army. He stated that he was never an Ustaša and that his Croatian nationalism stemmed from the nation's grievances in the Serb-dominated Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and that he never took part in any anti-government or terrorist activities against the state or against Serbs.
Stepinac also mentioned 260-270 priests were summarily executed by the Allied Yugoslav army for collaboration, which was widespread among the Catholic clergy in many parts of the NDH
, and that these summary death sentences "uncivilized". He also spoke against the nationalization of Church property and the newly implemented division of church and state (prevention of Church involvement in education, press, charitable work, and teaching of religion in school), as well as alleged intimidation and molestation of clergy. He also complained against atheism, spoke out against evolution
, materialism, and communism in general.
Stepinac was arrested on September 18, and was only given the indictment on the 23rd−meaning his defense were given only six to seven days to prepare. Stepinac's defense counsel were only allowed to call twenty witnesses—while the prosecution was allowed to call however many they pleased. The President of the Court refused to hear fourteen witnesses for the defense without giving any reason why.
On October 11, 1946, the court found Stepinac guilty of high treason
and war crimes. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He served five years in the prison at Lepoglava until he was released in a conciliatory gesture by Tito, on condition that he either retired to Rome or was confined to his home parish of Krašić. He chose to stay in Krašić, saying he would never leave "unless they put me on a plane by force and take me over the frontier."
atmosphere, and with the Vatican putting forward worldwide publicity, the trial was depicted in the West as a typical communist "show trial", in which the testimony was all false. The trial was immediately condemned by the Holy See. All Catholics who had taken part in the court proceedings, including most of the jury members, were excommunicated by Pope Pius XII
who referred to the process as the "saddest trial" (tristissimo processo).
In the United States, one of Stepinac's biggest supporters was the Archbishop of Boston, Richard Cushing, who delivered several sermons in support of him. U.S. Acting Secretary of State Dean Acheson
on October 11, 1946 bemoaned the conditions in Yugoslavia and stated his regret of the trial.
Support also came from the American Jewish Committee
, who put out a declaration that
On October 13, 1946, The New York Times
wrote that,
The National Conference of Christians and Jews at the Bronx Round Table adopted a unanimous resolution on October 13 condemning the trial:
In Britain
, on 23 October 1946, Mr Richard Stokes MP declared in the House of Commons that,
On November 1, 1946 Winston Churchill
addressed the House of Commons on the subject of the trial, expressing "great sadness" at the result.
In Stepinac's absence, archbishop of Belgrade
Josip Ujčić became acting president of the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia
, a position he held until Stepinac's death. In March 1947 the president of the People's Republic of Croatia Vladimir Bakarić
made an official visit to Lepoglava prison
to see Stepinac. He offered him to sign an amnesty plea to Yugoslavia's leader Josip Broz who would in turn allow Stepinac to leave the country. Instead, Stepinac gave Bakarić a request to Broz that he be retried by a neutral court. He also offered to explain his actions to the Croatian people on the largest square in Zagreb
. A positive response was not received from either request.
The 1947 pilgrimage to Marija Bistrica attracted 75,000 people. Dragutin Saili had been in charge of the pilgrimage on the part of the Yugoslav authorities. At a meeting of the Central Committee on August 1, 1947 Saili was chastised for allowing pictures of Stepinac to be carried during the pilgrimage, as long as the pictures were alongside those of Yugoslav leader Josip Broz. Marko Belinić responded to the report by saying, "Saili's path, his poor cooperation with the Local Committee, is a deadly thing".
In February, 1949, the United States House of Representatives
approved a resolution condemning Stepinac's imprisonment, with the Senate
following suit several months later. On November 11, 1951 Jewish-American Cyrus L. Sulzberger
from the New York Times visited Stepinac in Lepoglava. He won the Pulitzer Prize
for the interview. A visiting congressional delegation from the United States, including Clement J. Zablocki
and Edna F. Kelly
, pressed to see Stepinac in late November 1951. Their request was denied by the Yugoslav authorities, but Josip Broz Tito assured the delegation that Stepinac would be released within a month.
Aloysius Stepinac eventually served five years of his sixteen-year sentence for high treason
in the Lepoglava
prison, where he received preferred treatment in recognition of his clerical status. He was allocated two cells for personal use and an additional cell as his private chapel, while being exempt of all hard labor. Alojzije Stepinac was released in a conciliatory gesture by the Yugoslav Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito
, on the condition that he either retired to Rome or was confined to his home parish of Krašić. He refused to leave Yugoslavia and opted to live in Krašić, where he was transferred on December 5, 1951. He stated that: "They will never make me leave unless they put me on a plane by force and take me over the frontier. It is my duty in these difficult times to stay with the people."
At a meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Croatia on October 5, 1951 Ivan Krajačić said, "In America they are printing the book Crvena ruža na oltaru of 350 pages, in which is described the entire Stepinac process. Religious education is particularly recently being taught on a large scale. We should do something about this. We could ban religious education. We could ban religious education in schools, but they will then pass it into their churches". On January 31, 1952 the Yugoslav authorities abolished religious education in state-run public schools, as part of the programme of separating church and state in Yugoslavia. In April, Stepinac told a journalist from Belgium's La Libertea, "I am greatly concerned about Catholic youth. In schools they are carrying out intensive communist propaganda, based on negating the truth".
, which coincided with Yugoslavia's Republic Day. Yugoslavia then severed diplomatic relations with the Vatican
on December 17, 1952. The government also expelled the Catholic Faculty of Theology from the University of Zagreb
, to which it was not restored until the first democratic elections were held in 1990, and was finally formalized in 1996.
Pius XII wrote to Stepinac and three other jailed prelates (Stefan Wyszyński, József Mindszenty and Josef Beran) on June 29, 1956 urging their supporters to remain loyal. Stepinac was unable to participate in the 1958 Papal conclave
due to his house arrest, despite calls from the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia
for his release. On June 2, 1959 he wrote in a letter to Ivan Meštrović: "I likely will not live to see the collapse of communism in the world due to my poor health. But I am absolutely certain of that collapse."
The 1955 film The Prisoner
was loosely based on József Mindszenty and to some extent Stepinac. The Cardinal character, played by Alec Guinness
, was made to appear physically similar to Stepinac.
In 1953, Stepinac was diagnosed with polycythemia
, a rare blood disorder involving the excess of red blood cells, causing him to joke "I am suffering from an excess of reds." On 10 February 1960 at the age of 61, Stepinac died of a thrombosis
. Pope John XXIII
held a requiem mass for him soon after at St. Peter's Basilica
. He was buried in Zagreb during a service in which the protocols appropriate to his senior clerical status were, with Tito's permission, fully observed. Cardinal Franz König
was among those who attended the funeral.
Notwithstanding that Stepinac died peacefully at home, he quickly became a martyr
in the view of his supporters and many other Catholics. After his death, traces of poison were found in Stepinac's bones, leading many to believe he had been poisoned by his captors.
When in 1943 Stepinac travelled to the Vatican, he came into contact with the Croatian artist Ivan Meštrović
. According to Meštrović, Stepinac asked him whether Croatian leader Ante Pavelić knew about crimes being committed in the state. When Meštrović replied that he must know everything, Stepinac reportedly broke into tears. Meštrović did not return to Yugoslavia until 1959 and upon his return met with Stepinac again, who was then under house arrest. Meštrović went on to sculpt a bust of Stepinac after his death which reads: "Archbishop Stepinac was not a man of idle words, but rather, he actively helped every person─when he was able, and to the extent he was able. He made no distinctions as to whether a man in need was a Croat or a Serb, whether he was a Catholic or an Orthodox, whether he was Christian or non-Christian. All the attacks upon him be they the product of misinformation, or the product of a clouded mind, cannot change this fact....".
In 1970, Glas Koncila
published a text on Stepinac taken from L'Osservatore Romano
which resulted in the edition being confiscated by court decree. Stepinac's beatification process began on October 9, 1981. The Catholic Church declared Stepinac a martyr on November 11, 1997, and on October 3, 1998 Pope John Paul II
declared that Stepinac had indeed been martyred while on pilgrimage to Marija Bistrica to beatify him. John Paul had earlier determined that where a candidate for sainthood had been martyred, his/her cause could be advanced without the normal requirement for evidence of a miraculous intercession by the candidate. Accordingly he beatified
the late cardinal after saying these words: One of the outstanding figures of the Catholic Church, having endured in his own body and his own spirit the atrocities of the Communist system, is now entrusted to the memory of his fellow countrymen with the radiant badge of martyrdom.
On the other hand many non-Catholics have remained unconvinced about Stepinac's martyrdom and about his saintly qualities in general. The beatification re-ignited old controversies between Catholicism and Communism and between Serbs and Croats. The Jewish community in Croatia, some members of which had been helped by Stepinac during World War II, did not oppose his beatification but the Simon Wiesenthal Center
asked for it to be deferred until the wartime conduct of Stepinac had been further investigated. The Vatican had no reaction, though some Croats expressed irritation.
On February 14, 1992, Croatian representative Vladimir Šeks
put forth a declaration in the Croatian Sabor condemning the court decision and the process that led to it. The declaration was passed, along with a similar one about the death of Croatian communist official Andrija Hebrang
. The declaration states that the true reason of Stepinac's imprisonment was his pointing out many communist crimes and especially refusing to form a Croatian Catholic Church in schism
with the Pope
. The verdict has not been formally challenged nor overturned in any court between 1997 and 1999 while it was possible under Croatian law. In 1998, the Croatian National Bank
released commemmoratives 500 kuna gold and 150 kuna silver coins.
In 2007, the municipality of Marija Bistrica began on a project called Stepinac's Path, which would build pilgrimage paths linking places significant to the cardinal: Krašić
, Kaptol
in Zagreb
, Medvednica
, Marija Bistrica, and Lepoglava
. The Aloysius Stepinac Museum opened in Zagreb in 2007.
Croatian football
international Dario Šimić
wore a t-shirt with Stepinac's image on it under his jersey during the country's UEFA Euro 2008 game against Poland, which he revealed after the game.
. Amiel Shomrony
(previously known in Croatia as Emil Schwarz), the secretary to the war-time head rabbi Miroslav Šalom Freiberger, nominated Stepinac in 1970. He was again nominated in 1994 by Igor Primorac. Amiel Shomrony has recently challenged the Serb lobby for preventing the inclusion of Stepinac into Yad Vashem's Righteous list. Esther Gitman
, a Jew from Sarajevo
living in the USA who holds a PhD on the subject of the fate of Jews in the Independent State of Croatia, said that Stepinac did much more for Jews than some want to admit. However the reason stated by Yad Vashem for denying the requests were that the proposers were not themselves Holocaust
survivors, which is a requirement for inclusion in the list; and that maintaining close links with a genocidal regime at the same time as making humanitarian interventions would preclude listing.
in the archives of the Federal Ministry of Justice, but only the extracts quoted by Jakov Blažević, the public prosecutor at Stepinac's trial, in his memoir Mač a ne Mir are available. Father Josip Vranković
kept a diary from December 1951 to February 10, 1960, recording what Stepinac related to him each day; that diary was used by Franciscan Aleksa Benigar to write a biography of Stepniac, but Benigar refused to share the diary with any other researcher. The diocesan archives have also been made available to Benigar, but no other researcher.
The official transcript of Stepinac's trial Sudjenje Lisaku, Stepincu etc. was published in Zagreb in 1946, but contains substantial evidence of alteration. Alexander's Triple Myth therefore relies on the Yugoslav and foreign press—particularly Vjesnik
and Narodne Novine
—as well as Katolički List. All other primary sources available to researchers only indirectly focus on Stepinac.
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 to 1960. In 1998 he was declared a martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
and beatified
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
.
Stepinac was ordained on October 26, 1930 by archbishop Giuseppe Palica
Giuseppe Palica
Giuseppe Palica was an italian Archbishop.Born on 8 October 1869 in Rome, he was ordained priest on 18 December 1892.On 25 April 1917 he was appointed vice-gerent of Rome and titular archbishop of Philippi....
, and in 1931 he became a parish curate in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
. He established the archdiocesan branch of Caritas
Caritas (charity)
Caritas Internationalis is a confederate of 164 Roman Catholic relief, development and social service organisations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide....
in 1931, and was appointed coadjutor to the see of Zagreb in 1934. When Archbishop Anton Bauer died on December 7, 1937, Stepinac succeeded him as the Archbishop of Zagreb. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, on 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
was invaded by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, who established the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
-led Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
. As archbishop of the puppet state's capital, Stepinac had close associations with the Ustaše leaders during the Nazi occupation, had issued proclamations celebrating the NDH, and welcomed the Ustaše leaders. Stepinac also objected against the persecution of Jews and Nazi laws, helped Jews and others to escape and criticized Ustaše atrocities in front of Zagreb Cathedral
Zagreb cathedral
Zagreb Cathedral on Kaptol is the most famous building in Zagreb, and the tallest building in Croatia. It is dedicated to the Holy Virgin's Ascension and to St. Stephen and St. Ladislaus. The cathedral is typically Gothic, as is its sacristy, which is of great architectonic value...
in 1943.
After the war he publicly condemned the new Yugoslav government and its actions during World War II, especially for murders of priests by Communist militants. Yugoslav authorities indicted the archbishop on multiple counts of war crimes and collaboration
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
with the enemy during wartime. The trial was depicted in the West as a typical communist "show trial", biased against the archbishop; however, some claim the trial was "carried out with proper legal procedure". In a verdict that polarized public opinion both in Yugoslavia and beyond, the Yugoslav authorities found him guilty of collaboration
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
with the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
Ustaše movement and complicity in allowing the forced conversions of Orthodox
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
.
After foreign and domestic pressure, Stepinac was released from Lepoglava prison
Lepoglava prison
Lepoglava prison is the oldest prison in Croatia. It is located in Lepoglava, Varaždin County, northern Croatia, southwest of Varaždin prison.-History:...
. In 1952 he was appointed cardinal by Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
. Stepinac died while still under confinement in his parish, almost certainly as the result of poisoning by his Communist captors. In October 3, 1998, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
declared him a martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
and beatified
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
him before 500,000 Croatians in Marija Bistrica
Marija Bistrica
Marija Bistrica is municipality in Krapina-Zagorje County in central Croatia, located on the slopes of the Medvednica mountain in Hrvatsko Zagorje, not far away from Zagreb...
near Zagreb. This again polarized public opinion.
Early life
Stepinac was born in the village of Brezarić in the parish of Krašić on 8 May 1898 to Josip Stepinac and his wife Barbara. He was the fifth of eight children in his peasant family. In 1909 he moved to ZagrebZagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
to study in the Classical Gymnasium
Classical Gymnasium in Zagreb
The Classical Gymnasium in Zagreb is the home of the oldest high schools in Croatia and southeastern Europe. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1607 and hasn't stopped working since...
and graduated in 1916. Just before his eighteenth birthday he was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
. He was attached to the 96th Karlovac Infantry Regiment before going to Rijeka
Rijeka
Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
for six months training. He was then sent to serve on the Italian Front
Italian Campaign (World War I)
The Italian campaign refers to a series of battles fought between the armies of Austria-Hungary and Italy, along with their allies, in northern Italy between 1915 and 1918. Italy hoped that by joining the countries of the Triple Entente against the Central Powers it would gain Cisalpine Tyrol , the...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In July 1918 he was captured by the Italians who held him as a prisoner of war for five months. After the formation of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was a short-lived state formed from the southernmost parts of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy after its dissolution at the end of the World War I by the resident population of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs...
, he was no longer treated as an enemy soldier, and he instead volunteered for the Yugoslav legion that was engaged on the Salonika Front. A few months later, he was demobilized with the rank of Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
and returned home in the spring of 1919.
For service in the Yugoslav forces during World War I, he was awarded the Order of the Star of Karađorđe, an award for heroism in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
. After the war he enrolled at the faculty of agronomy of the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
, but left it after only one semester and returned home to help his father. In 1922 Stepinac was part of the Croatian Eagles Association
Sokol
The Sokol movement is a youth sport movement and gymnastics organization first founded in Czech region of Austria-Hungary, Prague, in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner...
and traveled to the Catholic Eagle slet
Mass games
Mass games or mass gymnastics are a form of performing arts or gymnastics in which large numbers of performers take part in a highly regimented performance that emphasizes group dynamics rather than individual prowess.-Methods:...
in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. He was at the front of the group's ceremonial procession, carrying a Croatian flag. In 1924, he traveled to Rome to study for the priesthood at the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum
Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum
The Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum or simply Collegium Germanicum is a German-speaking seminary for Roman Catholic priests in Rome, founded in 1552. Since 1580 its full name has been Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum de Urbe....
. During his studies there he befriended the future cardinal Franz König when the two played together on the same volleyball team. He was ordained on October 26, 1930 by archbishop Giuseppe Palica
Giuseppe Palica
Giuseppe Palica was an italian Archbishop.Born on 8 October 1869 in Rome, he was ordained priest on 18 December 1892.On 25 April 1917 he was appointed vice-gerent of Rome and titular archbishop of Philippi....
in a ceremony which also included Franjo Šeper
Franjo Šeper
Franjo Šeper was a Croatian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1968 to 1981, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965....
. On November 1, he said his first mass at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
The Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major , known also by other names, is the largest Roman Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy.There are other churches in Rome dedicated to Mary, such as Santa Maria in Trastevere, Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, but the greater size of the...
. In 1931 he became a parish curate in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
. He established the archdiocesan branch of Caritas
Caritas (charity)
Caritas Internationalis is a confederate of 164 Roman Catholic relief, development and social service organisations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide....
in 1931.
Pre-war Coadjutor and Archbishop of Zagreb
He was appointed coadjutor to the see of Zagreb in 1934, after other candidates had been rejected by Pope Pius XIPope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
because king Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...
needed to agree with the appointment. Upon his naming, he took In te, Domine, speravi (O Lord, in Thee have I trusted) as his motto. During this period, King Alexander ran a dictatorship in the country. Stepinac was among those who signed the Zagreb memorandum demanding from the king the release of Vladko Maček
Vladko Macek
Vladko Maček was a Croatian politician active within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the first half of the 20th century. He led the Croatian Peasant Party following the assassination of Stjepan Radić, and all through World War II.- Early life :Maček was born to a Slovene-Czech family in the village...
and other Croatian politicians, as well as a general amnesty. Stepinac was denied access by Yugoslav authorities to see Maček to thank him for his well-wishes concerning Stepinac's appointment as coadjutor.
King Alexander was assassinated in Marseilles in 1934, and Stepinac along with Bishops Antun Akšamović, Dionizije Njaradi and Gregorij Rožman
Gregorij Rožman
Gregorij Rožman was a Slovenian Roman Catholic clergyman and theologian. Between 1930 and 1959, he served as bishop of the Diocese of Ljubljana. He is most famous for his controversial role during World War II...
were given special permission from the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
to attend the funeral in an Orthodox church. Croatian politician Ante Trumbić
Ante Trumbic
Ante Trumbić was a Croatian politician in the early 20th century. He was one of the key politicians in the creation of a Yugoslav state....
spoke to Stepinac on several occasions in 1934. On his relation with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
, he recorded that Stepinac has "loyalty to the state as it is, but with the condition that the state acts towards the Catholic Church as it does to all just denominations and that it guarantees them freedom". On July 30 he received French deputy Robert Schuman
Robert Schuman
Robert Schuman was a noted Luxembourgish-born French statesman. Schuman was a Christian Democrat and an independent political thinker and activist...
, whom he told: "There is no justice in Yugoslavia. [...] The Catholic Church endures much".
In 1936, he climbed the Mount Triglav
Triglav
Triglav is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. While its name, meaning "three-headed", can describe its shape as seen from the Bohinj area, the mountain was most probably named after the Slavic god Triglav. The mountain is the preeminent symbol of the Slovene...
, the tallest peak in Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
. In 2006 this climb was commemorated by a memorial chapel being built near the summit. In 1937 he led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
(then the British Mandate of Palestine). During the pilgrimage he blessed an altar dedicated to the martyr Nikola Tavelić
Nikola Tavelic
Nikola Tavelić is a saint of the Catholic Church. This Franciscan missionary, who died a martyr's death in Jerusalem, was the first Croatian saint.- Life :...
(who was beatified then, but later canonized).
On December 7, 1937 Archbishop Anton Bauer died, and though still below the age of forty. Stepinac succeeded him as the Archbishop of Zagreb. During Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
in 1938, Stepinac told a group of students from the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
: "Love towards one's own nation cannot turn a man into a wild animal, which destroys everything and calls for reprisal, but it must ennoble him, so that his own nation secures respect and love for other nations." In 1938, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia held its last election before the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Stepinac voted for Vlatko Maček's opposition list, while Radio Belgrade
Radio Belgrade
Radio Belgrade is a state-owned and operated radio station in Belgrade, Serbia.The predecessor of Radio Beograd, Radio Beograd-Rakovica, started its program in 1924 and was a part of a state wireless telegraph station. Radio Beograd, AD started in March 1929...
spread the false information that he had voted for Milan Stojadinović
Milan Stojadinovic
Milan Stojadinović was a Yugoslav political figure and a noted economist.Stojadinović was born in Čačak in central Serbia, and went to school in Užice and Kragujevac. In 1910 he graduated from the University of Belgrade's Law School, and gained a Ph.D. in economics in 1911...
's Yugoslav Radical Union
Yugoslav Radical Union
The Yugoslav Radical Union was a conservative political party in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.The party was formed by the Serbian politician Milan Stojadinović in 1935. It was made up by different groups, that could be divided in three parts: in Serbia, it was made mostly by former members of the...
. In the latter half of 1938, Stepinac had an operation for acute appendicitis.
In response to growing tensions in Europe, in 1936 Stepinac helped sponsor a committee aiding Jewish refuges from Austria and Germany. Then in April 1939 Dr. Dragutin Hren spoke to Stepinac about a group of Croatian Discalced Carmelite nuns from Mayerling
Mayerling
Mayerling is a small village in Lower Austria belonging to the municipality of Alland in the district of Baden. It is situated on the Schwechat River, in the Wienerwald , 15 miles southwest of Vienna...
who were being pressured by the German Nazis. Stepinac decided to accept the group and place them at a mansion in Brezovica
Brezovica, Zagreb
Brezovica is a city district of Zagreb, Croatia. It is located in the southwestern part of the city and has 12,040 inhabitants . It is one of the more rural districts in Zagreb...
. Stepinac spent October 6, 1939 in Ivanić-Grad where he administered confirmation for the local parish. In 1940, he received Prince Paul
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, also known as Paul Karađorđević , was Regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the minority of King Peter II. Peter was the eldest son of his first cousin Alexander I...
at St. Mark's Church
St. Mark's Church, Zagreb
Church of St. Mark is the parish church of old Zagreb.-Overview:The Romanesque window found in its south facade is the best evidence that the church must have been built as early as the 13th century as is also the semicircular groundplan of St...
as the prince arrived in Zagreb to curry support for the Cvetković-Maček Agreement
Cvetkovic-Macek Agreement
The Cvetković-Maček Agreement was a political agreement on the internal divisions in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which was settled on August 23, 1939 by Yugoslav prime minister Dragiša Cvetković and Vladko Maček, a Croat politician...
. Under Stepinac, Pope Pius XII declared 1940 as a Jubilee
Jubilee (Christian)
The concept of the Jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. In the Biblical Book of Leviticus, a Jubilee year is mentioned to occur every fifty years, in which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly...
year for Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
to celebrate 1300 years of Christianity among the Croats. In 1940, the Franciscan Order celebrated 700 years in Croatia and the order's minister general Leonardo Bello came to Zagreb for the event. During his visit Stepinac joined the Franciscan Third Order, on September 29, 1940.
World War II
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, on 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
was invaded by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and its allies. The (Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
) Yugoslav forces maintained a defence up until 17 April. On 10 April 1941, the Wehrmacht occupied Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
. Having previously agreed to form a Croatian satellite, the Germans and Italians established therein the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, and installed the Ustaše movement into power. Fiercely nationalistic, the Ustaše were also fanatically Catholic. In the Yugoslav political context, they identified Catholicism with Croatian nationalism and, once established in power, set about persecuting and murdering non-Catholics."Fiercely nationalistic, the Ustaše were also fanatically Catholic. In the Yugoslav political context, they identified Catholicism with Croatian nationalism and, once established in power, set about persecuting and murdering non-Catholics."
As the archbishop of the capital, Stepinac enjoyed close associations with the Ustaše leaders. When the Ustaše arrived, following the capitulation of Allied Yugoslavia, he publicly welcomed their arrival and issued proclamations celebrating the NDH. Among other such occasions, on April 21, 1941 the Catholic newspaper Katolički List, over which Stepinac had full control as president of the bishops' conference, reported that he had welcomed Ustaše leaders in meetings on April 12 and 16. With the Yugoslav army still fighting the invaders, this was high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
and constituted collaboration
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
with the enemy. It meant Stepinac, a Yugoslav citizen, had breached the oath of allegiance he had given his King when appointed coadjutor. Even though (with the exception of the Axis) no state around the world, including the Vatican, recognized the NDH as a sovereign nation, Stepinac publicly exhorted his hierarchy to pray for the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, and publicly called for God to "fill the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
leader, Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelic
Ante Pavelić was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionary, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik or head, of the Independent State of Croatia , a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia...
, with a spirit of wisdom for the benefit of the nation".
On more than one occasion, the archbishop professed his support for the Independent State of Croatia and welcomed the demise of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
, and continued to do so throughout the war. On April 10 each year during the war he celebrated a mass to celebrate proclamation of the Ustaše state. In his reports to the Vatican Stepinac spoke only favourably about the regime, and on March 28, 1941 he had made clear his own attitude to the problems of coexistence of the two peoples:
All in all, Croats and Serbs are of two worlds, north pole and south pole, never will they be able to get together unless by a miracle of God. The SchismEast-West SchismThe East–West Schism of 1054, sometimes known as the Great Schism, formally divided the State church of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively...
is the greatest curse in Europe, almost greater than Protestantism. Here there is no moral, no principles, no truth, no justice, no honesty.
However, during the war on several occasions Stepinac criticized the Ustaše atrocities to certain leaders in private, but continued to give communion to Ustaše leaders and made no public comments about their activities, ignoring complaints about the atrocities and forced conversions, particularly those described to him in great detail by Bishop Alojzije Mišić
Alojzije Mišic
Alojzije Mišić was the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno and Apostolic Administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan from 1912 to 1942....
of Mostar
Mostar
Mostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country...
.
Upon hearing news of the Glina massacre
Glina massacre
The Glina massacre was the August 1941 killing of hundreds of Serbs by members of the Croatian fascist Ustaše movement in the town of Glina in Croatia. It was one of the largest single acts of mass murder to occur in Yugoslavia during the Second World War....
, on May 14, 1941 Stepinac sent a letter to Pavelić, requesting that "on the whole territory of the Independent State of Croatia, not one Serb is killed if he is not proven guilty for what he has deserved death." When hearing of the racial laws being enacted, he asked: "We...appeal to you to issue regulations so that even in the framework of antisemitic legislation, and similar legislation concerning Serbs, the principles of human dignity be preserved." On Sunday May 24, 1942 he condemned racial persecution in general terms, though he did not specifically mention Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
. He stated in a diocesan letter:
All men and all races are children of God; all without distinction. Those who are Gypsies, Black, European, or Aryan all have the same rights (...) for this reason, the Catholic Church had always condemned, and continues to condemn, all injustice and all violence committed in the name of theories of class, race, or nationality. It is not permissible to persecute Gypsies or Jews because they are thought to be an inferior race.
In a sermon on October 25, 1942, he further commentated on racial acceptance:
We affirm then that all peoples and races descend from God. In fact, there exists but one race...The members of this race can be white or black, they can be separated by oceans or live on the opposing poles, [but] they remain first and foremost the race created by God, according to the precepts of natural law and positive Divine law as it is written in the hearts and minds of humans or revealed by Jesus Christ, the son of God, the sovereign of all peoples.
After the release of left-wing activist Ante Ciliga from Jasenovac in January 1943, Stepinac requested a meeting with him to learn about what was occurring at the camp. He also wrote directly to Pavelić, saying on 24 February 1943, "The Jasenovac camp itself is a shameful stain on the honor of the [Independent State of Croatia]."
Later Stepinac advised individual priests to admit Orthodox believers to the Catholic Church if their lives were in danger, such that this conversion had no validity, allowing them to return to their faith once the danger passed.
Stepinac was involved directly and indirectly in efforts to save Jews from persecution. Amiel Shomrony
Amiel Shomrony
Amiel Shomrony was a Croatian Jew who survived the Holocaust as the secretary of Zagreb's chief rabbi Miroslav Šalom Freiberger during the World War II....
, alias Emil Schwartz, was the personal secretary of Miroslav Šalom Freiberger
Miroslav Šalom Freiberger
Miroslav Šalom Freiberger was chief rabbi of Zagreb and a catechist, translator, writer and spiritual leader. He was educated as a lawyer and doctor of theology.-Biography:...
(the chief rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
) until 1942. In the actions for saving Jews, Shomrony acted as the mediator between the chief rabbi and Stepinac. He later stated that he considered Stepinac "truly blessed" since he did the best he could for the Jews during the war. Allegedly the Ustaša government at this point agitated at the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
for him to be removed from the position of archbishop of Zagreb, this however was refused due to the fact that the Vatican did not recognize the Ustaše state (despite Italian pressure). Stepinac and the papal nuncio to Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
mediated with Royal Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops, urging that the Yugoslav
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
Jews be allowed to take refuge in the occupied Balkan territories to avoid deportation. He also arranged for Jews to travel via these territories to the safe, neutral states of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Spain, along with Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
-based nuncio Angelo Roncalli
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
. He sent some Jews for safety to Rev. Dragutin Jeish, who was killed during the war by the Ustaše on suspicion of supporting the Partisans.
In 1942, officials from Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)
The Kingdom of Hungary also known as the Regency, existed from 1920 to 1946 and was a de facto country under Regent Miklós Horthy. Horthy officially represented the abdicated Hungarian monarchy of Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary...
lobbied to attach the Hungarian-occupied Međimurje ecclesiastically to a diocese in Hungary. Stepinac opposed this and received guarantees from the Holy See that diocesan boundaries would not change during the war. On October 26, 1943 the Germans killed the archbishop's brother Mijo Stepinac. In 1944, Stepinac received the Polish Pauline
The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit
The Pauline Fathers a Hungarian order of the Roman Catholic Church, are more formally known as The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit .This name is derived from the hermit Saint Paul of Thebes , canonized in 491 by Pope Gelasius I...
priest Salezy Strzelec, who wrote about the archbishop, Zagreb, and Marija Bistrica upon his return to Poland.
The Catholic Church in Croatia has also had to contend with criticism of what some has seen as a passive stance towards the Ustaša policy of religious conversion
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
whereby some Serbs - but not the intelligentsia element - were able to escape other persecution by adopting the Catholic faith.
While Stepinac did suspend a number of priests, he only had the authority to do so within his own diocese; he had no power to suspend other priests or bishops outside of Zagreb.
Post-war period
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
met with representatives of the Archdiocese of Zagreb. The following day, he was released from custody. On June 4 Stepinac met with Tito but no agreement was reached between them. On June 22, the bishops of Croatia released a public letter accusing the Yugoslav authorities of injustices and crimes towards them. On June 28, Stepinac wrote a letter to the government of the Croatia asking for an end to the prosecution of Nazi collaborationists
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
(collaboration having been widespread in occupied Yugoslavia). On July 10, Stepinac's secretary Stjepan Lacković travelled to Rome. While he was there, the Yugoslav authorities forbade him to return. In August, a new land reform law was introduced which legalized the confiscation of 85 percent of church holdings in Yugoslavia.
During the same period the archbishop almost certainly had ties with the post-war Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
(fascist) guerrillas, the "Crusaders", and actively worked against the state. From September 17 to 22 1945, a synod of the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia
Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia
The Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia was an episcopal conference of the Catholic Church covering the territory of Yugoslavia.The first such bishops' conference was held in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in November of 1918...
was held in Zagreb which discussed the confrontation with the government. On October 20 Stepinac published a letter in which he made the claim that "273 clergymen had been killed" since the Partisan take-over, "169 had been imprisoned", and another "89 were missing and presumed dead". Similar numbers were later published.
In response to this letter Tito spoke out publicly against Stepinac for the first time by writing an editorial on 25 October in the communist party's newspaper Borba accusing Stepinac of declaring war on the fledgling new Yugoslavia. Consequently on November 4 Stepinac had stones thrown at him by a crowd of Partisans in Zaprešić
Zaprešic
Zaprešić is a city in Zagreb County in Croatia. Its population is 25.875 inhabitants for the city proper, and over 51,000 for its seven-municipality metropolitan area. Zaprešić is the third-largest, and most densely populated division of the county. It is located northwest of the Croatian capital...
. Tito had established "brotherhood and unity
Brotherhood and unity
Brotherhood and Unity was a popular slogan of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia that was coined during the Yugoslav People's Liberation War , and which evolved into a guiding principle of Yugoslavia's post-war inter-ethnic policy....
" as the federation's over-arching objective and central policy, one which he did not want threatened by internal agitation. In addition, with the escalating Cold War conflict and increased concerns over both Western and Soviet infiltration (see Tito-Stalin split
Tito-Stalin Split
The Tito–Stalin Split was a conflict between the leaders of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which resulted in Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Communist Information Bureau in 1948...
), the Yugoslav government did not tolerate further internal subversion within the potentially fragile new federation.
In an effort to put a stop to the archbishop's activities, Tito attempted to reach an accord with Stepinac, and achieve a greater degree of independence for the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia and Croatia. Stepinac refused to break from the Vatican, and continued to publicly condemn the communist government. Tito, however, was reluctant to bring him to trial, in spite of condemning evidence which was available. Abandoning the strive towards increased Church independence, Tito first attempted to persuade Stepinac to cease his activities. When this too failed, in January 1946 the federal government attempted to solicit his replacement with the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, a request that was denied. Finally, Stepinac was himself asked to leave the country, which he refused. On September 1946 the Yugoslav authorities indicted Stepinac on multiple counts of war crimes and collaboration
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
with the enemy during wartime. Milovan Đilas, a prominent leader in the Party, stated that Stepinac would never have been brought to trial "had he not continued to oppose the new Communist regime."
Trial
By September of the same year the Yugoslav authorities indicted Stepinac on several counts - collaborationCollaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
with the occupation forces, relations with the Ustaše regime, having chaplains in the Ustaše army as religious agitators, forceful conversions of Serb Orthodox to Catholicism at gunpoint and high treason against the Yugoslav government. Stepinac was arrested on September 18, 1946 and his trial started on September 30, 1946, where he was tried alongside former officials of the Ustaše government including Erih Lisak (sentenced to death) and Ivan Šalić. Altogether there were 16 defendants.
The prosecution presented their evidence for the archbishop's collaboration with the Ustaše regime. Numerous witnesses were heard concerning the killings and forced conversions members of Aloysius Stepinac's military vicariate performed, explaining that "forced conversions" were more often than not followed by the slaughter of the new "converts" (which is the main cause of their infamy). In relation to these events the prosecution pointed out that even if the archbishop did not explicitly order them, he also did nothing to stop them or punish those within the church who were responsible. They also pointed out the disproportionate number of chaplains in the NDH armed forces and attempted to present in detail his relationship with the Ustaše authorities. The Vatican was not excluded of implication in these accusations.
On October 3, as part of the fourth day of the proceedings, Stepinac gave a lengthy 38-minute speech during which he laid down his views on the legitimacy of the trial. He claimed that the process was a "show trial", that he was being attacked in order for the state to attack the Church, and that "no religious conversions were done in bad faith". He went on to state that "My conscience is clear and calm. If you will not give me the right, history will give me that right", and that he did not intend to defend himself or appeal against a conviction, and that he is prepared to take ridicule, disdain, humiliation and death for his beliefs. He claimed that the military vicariate in the Independent State of Croatia was created to address the needs of the faithful among the soldiers and not for the army itself, nor as a sign of approval of all action by the army. He stated that he was never an Ustaša and that his Croatian nationalism stemmed from the nation's grievances in the Serb-dominated Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and that he never took part in any anti-government or terrorist activities against the state or against Serbs.
Stepinac also mentioned 260-270 priests were summarily executed by the Allied Yugoslav army for collaboration, which was widespread among the Catholic clergy in many parts of the NDH
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, and that these summary death sentences "uncivilized". He also spoke against the nationalization of Church property and the newly implemented division of church and state (prevention of Church involvement in education, press, charitable work, and teaching of religion in school), as well as alleged intimidation and molestation of clergy. He also complained against atheism, spoke out against evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
, materialism, and communism in general.
Stepinac was arrested on September 18, and was only given the indictment on the 23rd−meaning his defense were given only six to seven days to prepare. Stepinac's defense counsel were only allowed to call twenty witnesses—while the prosecution was allowed to call however many they pleased. The President of the Court refused to hear fourteen witnesses for the defense without giving any reason why.
On October 11, 1946, the court found Stepinac guilty of high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
and war crimes. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He served five years in the prison at Lepoglava until he was released in a conciliatory gesture by Tito, on condition that he either retired to Rome or was confined to his home parish of Krašić. He chose to stay in Krašić, saying he would never leave "unless they put me on a plane by force and take me over the frontier."
Reactions
In the escalating Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
atmosphere, and with the Vatican putting forward worldwide publicity, the trial was depicted in the West as a typical communist "show trial", in which the testimony was all false. The trial was immediately condemned by the Holy See. All Catholics who had taken part in the court proceedings, including most of the jury members, were excommunicated by Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
who referred to the process as the "saddest trial" (tristissimo processo).
In the United States, one of Stepinac's biggest supporters was the Archbishop of Boston, Richard Cushing, who delivered several sermons in support of him. U.S. Acting Secretary of State Dean Acheson
Dean Acheson
Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953, he played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War...
on October 11, 1946 bemoaned the conditions in Yugoslavia and stated his regret of the trial.
Support also came from the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
, who put out a declaration that
On October 13, 1946, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote that,
The trial of Archbishop Stepinac was a purely political one with the outcome determined in advance. The trial and sentence of this Croatian prelate are in contradiction with the Yugoslavia's pledge that it will respect human rights and the fundamental liberties of all without reference to race, sex, language and creed. Archbishop Stepinac was sentenced and will be incarcerated as part of the campaign against his church, guilty only of being the enemy of Communism.
The National Conference of Christians and Jews at the Bronx Round Table adopted a unanimous resolution on October 13 condemning the trial:
This great churchman has been charged with being a collaborator with the Nazis. We Jews deny that. We know from his record since 1934, that he was a true friend of the Jews...This man, now the victim of a sham trial, all during the Nazi regime spoke out openly, unafraid, against the dreadful Nuremberg Laws, and his opposition to the Nazi terrorism was never relaxed.
In Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, on 23 October 1946, Mr Richard Stokes MP declared in the House of Commons that,
[T]he archbishop was our constant ally in 1941, during the worst of the crisis, and thereafter, at a time when the Orthodox Church, which is now comme il faut with the Tito Government, was shaking hands with MussoliniBenito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
....
On November 1, 1946 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
addressed the House of Commons on the subject of the trial, expressing "great sadness" at the result.
This trial was prepared in the political sphere. It was for the purpose of dividing the Catholic Church in Croatia from its leadership at the Vatican. Tito has openly expressed this purpose....The trial was not based on justice, but was an outrage on justice. Tito's regime has no interest in justice. It seeks only to stifle opposition....
[Stepinac] was one of the very rare men in Europe who raised his voice against the Nazis' tyranny at a time when it was very difficult and dangerous for him to do so.
Imprisonment
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
Josip Ujčić became acting president of the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia
Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia
The Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia was an episcopal conference of the Catholic Church covering the territory of Yugoslavia.The first such bishops' conference was held in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in November of 1918...
, a position he held until Stepinac's death. In March 1947 the president of the People's Republic of Croatia Vladimir Bakarić
Vladimir Bakaric
Dr. Vladimir Bakarić was a Croatian communist and a politician in Socialist Yugoslavia.Bakarić helped organize Partisan resistance in Croatia during World War II. From 1948 to 1969 he was the chairman of the Croatian League of Communists, and as such was a close collaborator of President Josip...
made an official visit to Lepoglava prison
Lepoglava prison
Lepoglava prison is the oldest prison in Croatia. It is located in Lepoglava, Varaždin County, northern Croatia, southwest of Varaždin prison.-History:...
to see Stepinac. He offered him to sign an amnesty plea to Yugoslavia's leader Josip Broz who would in turn allow Stepinac to leave the country. Instead, Stepinac gave Bakarić a request to Broz that he be retried by a neutral court. He also offered to explain his actions to the Croatian people on the largest square in Zagreb
Ban Jelacic Square
Ban Jelačić Square is the central square of the city of Zagreb, Croatia, named after ban Josip Jelačić. The official name is Trg bana Jelačića...
. A positive response was not received from either request.
The 1947 pilgrimage to Marija Bistrica attracted 75,000 people. Dragutin Saili had been in charge of the pilgrimage on the part of the Yugoslav authorities. At a meeting of the Central Committee on August 1, 1947 Saili was chastised for allowing pictures of Stepinac to be carried during the pilgrimage, as long as the pictures were alongside those of Yugoslav leader Josip Broz. Marko Belinić responded to the report by saying, "Saili's path, his poor cooperation with the Local Committee, is a deadly thing".
In February, 1949, the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
approved a resolution condemning Stepinac's imprisonment, with the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
following suit several months later. On November 11, 1951 Jewish-American Cyrus L. Sulzberger
C. L. Sulzberger
Cyrus Leo Sulzberger II was a U.S. journalist, diarist, and author, and a member of the family that owns the New York Times. During the 1940s and 1950s, he was that newspaper's lead foreign correspondent....
from the New York Times visited Stepinac in Lepoglava. He won the Pulitzer Prize
1951 Pulitzer Prize
-Journalism awards:*Public Service:**The Miami Herald and the Brooklyn Eagle, for their crime reporting during the year.*Local Reporting:** Edward S...
for the interview. A visiting congressional delegation from the United States, including Clement J. Zablocki
Clement J. Zablocki
Clement John Zablocki was an American politician from the state of Wisconsin.-Career:Zablocki was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and he graduated from Marquette University. Zablocki was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1942. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1948 as a Democrat...
and Edna F. Kelly
Edna F. Kelly
Edna Flannery Kelly was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.Kelly was born in East Hampton, New York. She graduated from Hunter College in 1928...
, pressed to see Stepinac in late November 1951. Their request was denied by the Yugoslav authorities, but Josip Broz Tito assured the delegation that Stepinac would be released within a month.
Aloysius Stepinac eventually served five years of his sixteen-year sentence for high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
in the Lepoglava
Lepoglava
Lepoglava is a town in Varaždin County, northern Croatia, located southwest of Varaždin, west of Ivanec and northeast of Krapina.A total of 8,271 people in the municipality lives in the following settlements:* Bednjica, population 214...
prison, where he received preferred treatment in recognition of his clerical status. He was allocated two cells for personal use and an additional cell as his private chapel, while being exempt of all hard labor. Alojzije Stepinac was released in a conciliatory gesture by the Yugoslav Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
, on the condition that he either retired to Rome or was confined to his home parish of Krašić. He refused to leave Yugoslavia and opted to live in Krašić, where he was transferred on December 5, 1951. He stated that: "They will never make me leave unless they put me on a plane by force and take me over the frontier. It is my duty in these difficult times to stay with the people."
At a meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Croatia on October 5, 1951 Ivan Krajačić said, "In America they are printing the book Crvena ruža na oltaru of 350 pages, in which is described the entire Stepinac process. Religious education is particularly recently being taught on a large scale. We should do something about this. We could ban religious education. We could ban religious education in schools, but they will then pass it into their churches". On January 31, 1952 the Yugoslav authorities abolished religious education in state-run public schools, as part of the programme of separating church and state in Yugoslavia. In April, Stepinac told a journalist from Belgium's La Libertea, "I am greatly concerned about Catholic youth. In schools they are carrying out intensive communist propaganda, based on negating the truth".
Cardinalate
On November 29, 1952, his name appeared in a list of cardinals newly created by Pope Pius XIIPope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
, which coincided with Yugoslavia's Republic Day. Yugoslavia then severed diplomatic relations with the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
on December 17, 1952. The government also expelled the Catholic Faculty of Theology from the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
, to which it was not restored until the first democratic elections were held in 1990, and was finally formalized in 1996.
Pius XII wrote to Stepinac and three other jailed prelates (Stefan Wyszyński, József Mindszenty and Josef Beran) on June 29, 1956 urging their supporters to remain loyal. Stepinac was unable to participate in the 1958 Papal conclave
Papal conclave, 1958
The Papal conclave of 1958 occurred following the death of Pope Pius XII on 9 October 1958 in Castel Gandolfo, after a 19-year pontificate. The conclave to elect his successor commenced on 25 October and ended three days later, on 28 October, after eleven ballots. The cardinal electors chose Angelo...
due to his house arrest, despite calls from the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia
Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia
The Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia was an episcopal conference of the Catholic Church covering the territory of Yugoslavia.The first such bishops' conference was held in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in November of 1918...
for his release. On June 2, 1959 he wrote in a letter to Ivan Meštrović: "I likely will not live to see the collapse of communism in the world due to my poor health. But I am absolutely certain of that collapse."
The 1955 film The Prisoner
The Prisoner (1955 film)
The Prisoner is a 1955 drama film directed by Peter Glenville and based on the play by Bridget Boland. The film stars Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins.-Cast:* Alec Guinness as The Cardinal* Jack Hawkins as The Interrogator* Wilfrid Lawson as The Jailer...
was loosely based on József Mindszenty and to some extent Stepinac. The Cardinal character, played by Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
, was made to appear physically similar to Stepinac.
Death and legacy controversies
Polycythemia
Polycythemia is a disease state in which the proportion of blood volume that is occupied by red blood cells increases...
, a rare blood disorder involving the excess of red blood cells, causing him to joke "I am suffering from an excess of reds." On 10 February 1960 at the age of 61, Stepinac died of a thrombosis
Thrombosis
Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel is injured, the body uses platelets and fibrin to form a blood clot to prevent blood loss...
. Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
held a requiem mass for him soon after at St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
. He was buried in Zagreb during a service in which the protocols appropriate to his senior clerical status were, with Tito's permission, fully observed. Cardinal Franz König
Franz König
Franz König was an Austrian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Vienna from 1956 to 1985, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958...
was among those who attended the funeral.
Notwithstanding that Stepinac died peacefully at home, he quickly became a martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
in the view of his supporters and many other Catholics. After his death, traces of poison were found in Stepinac's bones, leading many to believe he had been poisoned by his captors.
When in 1943 Stepinac travelled to the Vatican, he came into contact with the Croatian artist Ivan Meštrović
Ivan Meštrovic
Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor and architect born in Vrpolje, Croatia...
. According to Meštrović, Stepinac asked him whether Croatian leader Ante Pavelić knew about crimes being committed in the state. When Meštrović replied that he must know everything, Stepinac reportedly broke into tears. Meštrović did not return to Yugoslavia until 1959 and upon his return met with Stepinac again, who was then under house arrest. Meštrović went on to sculpt a bust of Stepinac after his death which reads: "Archbishop Stepinac was not a man of idle words, but rather, he actively helped every person─when he was able, and to the extent he was able. He made no distinctions as to whether a man in need was a Croat or a Serb, whether he was a Catholic or an Orthodox, whether he was Christian or non-Christian. All the attacks upon him be they the product of misinformation, or the product of a clouded mind, cannot change this fact....".
In 1970, Glas Koncila
Glas Koncila
Glas Koncila is a Croatian, Roman Catholic, weekly newspaper published in Zagreb and distributed throughout the country.- Publishing history :...
published a text on Stepinac taken from L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released...
which resulted in the edition being confiscated by court decree. Stepinac's beatification process began on October 9, 1981. The Catholic Church declared Stepinac a martyr on November 11, 1997, and on October 3, 1998 Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
declared that Stepinac had indeed been martyred while on pilgrimage to Marija Bistrica to beatify him. John Paul had earlier determined that where a candidate for sainthood had been martyred, his/her cause could be advanced without the normal requirement for evidence of a miraculous intercession by the candidate. Accordingly he beatified
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
the late cardinal after saying these words: One of the outstanding figures of the Catholic Church, having endured in his own body and his own spirit the atrocities of the Communist system, is now entrusted to the memory of his fellow countrymen with the radiant badge of martyrdom.
On the other hand many non-Catholics have remained unconvinced about Stepinac's martyrdom and about his saintly qualities in general. The beatification re-ignited old controversies between Catholicism and Communism and between Serbs and Croats. The Jewish community in Croatia, some members of which had been helped by Stepinac during World War II, did not oppose his beatification but the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
asked for it to be deferred until the wartime conduct of Stepinac had been further investigated. The Vatican had no reaction, though some Croats expressed irritation.
On February 14, 1992, Croatian representative Vladimir Šeks
Vladimir Šeks
Vladimir Šeks is an influential Croatian politician, a member of the Croatian Democratic Union . He has been a representative in the Croatian Parliament since the nation's independence, and has held the posts of the Speaker of the Parliament as well as Deputy Prime Minister of the Government.Šeks...
put forth a declaration in the Croatian Sabor condemning the court decision and the process that led to it. The declaration was passed, along with a similar one about the death of Croatian communist official Andrija Hebrang
Andrija Hebrang (father)
Andrija Hebrang was a Croatian and Yugoslav Stalinist politician.-Early life:Andrija Hebrang was born in the village of Bačevac to father Andrija Hebrang and mother Cela Strasser. During World War I, he was stationed for a time in Osijek, Zagreb, and finally the battlefields in Gorizia, Italy...
. The declaration states that the true reason of Stepinac's imprisonment was his pointing out many communist crimes and especially refusing to form a Croatian Catholic Church in schism
Schism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
with the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
. The verdict has not been formally challenged nor overturned in any court between 1997 and 1999 while it was possible under Croatian law. In 1998, the Croatian National Bank
Croatian National Bank
The Croatian National Bank is the central bank of the Republic of Croatia.HNB was established by the Constitution of Croatia which was passed by the Croatian Parliament on 21 December 1990. Its main responsibilities are maintaining the stability of the national currency, the kuna, and ensuring...
released commemmoratives 500 kuna gold and 150 kuna silver coins.
In 2007, the municipality of Marija Bistrica began on a project called Stepinac's Path, which would build pilgrimage paths linking places significant to the cardinal: Krašić
Krašic
Krašić is a village in central Croatia, located near Jastrebarsko and Ozalj, south of Žumberak and north of Kupa, about 50 km southwest of Zagreb. Krašić comprises an area of about 3.63 km²...
, Kaptol
Kaptol, Zagreb
Kaptol is a part of Zagreb, Croatia in the upper town and it is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Zagreb.-History:The existence of Kaptol, the settlement on the east slope, was confirmed in 1094 when King Ladislaus founded the Zagreb diocese. The bishop, his residence and the Cathedral...
in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, Medvednica
Medvednica
Medvednica is a mountain in central Croatia, just north of Zagreb and marking the southern border of the historic region of Zagorje. The highest peak, at 1,035 m, is Sljeme. Most of the area of Medvednica is a nature park , a type of preservation lesser than a national park...
, Marija Bistrica, and Lepoglava
Lepoglava
Lepoglava is a town in Varaždin County, northern Croatia, located southwest of Varaždin, west of Ivanec and northeast of Krapina.A total of 8,271 people in the municipality lives in the following settlements:* Bednjica, population 214...
. The Aloysius Stepinac Museum opened in Zagreb in 2007.
Croatian football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
international Dario Šimić
Dario Šimic
Dario Šimić is a retired Croatian football player. Šimić was a versatile defender who played as full-back, sweeper or centre back. A product of Dinamo Zagreb Academy, he later played for Serie A sides Inter Milan and AC Milan and Ligue 1 side Monaco, before returning to Dinamo Zagreb in 2010,...
wore a t-shirt with Stepinac's image on it under his jersey during the country's UEFA Euro 2008 game against Poland, which he revealed after the game.
Nominations to Righteous Among the Nations
Stepinac was unsuccessfully recommended on two occasions by two individual Croatian Jews to be added to the list of the Righteous Among the NationsRighteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
. Amiel Shomrony
Amiel Shomrony
Amiel Shomrony was a Croatian Jew who survived the Holocaust as the secretary of Zagreb's chief rabbi Miroslav Šalom Freiberger during the World War II....
(previously known in Croatia as Emil Schwarz), the secretary to the war-time head rabbi Miroslav Šalom Freiberger, nominated Stepinac in 1970. He was again nominated in 1994 by Igor Primorac. Amiel Shomrony has recently challenged the Serb lobby for preventing the inclusion of Stepinac into Yad Vashem's Righteous list. Esther Gitman
Esther Gitman
Dr. Esther Gitman is a American-Jewish historian who is an expert on the Holocaust in Yugoslavia specifically focusing on Independent State of Croatia....
, a Jew from Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
living in the USA who holds a PhD on the subject of the fate of Jews in the Independent State of Croatia, said that Stepinac did much more for Jews than some want to admit. However the reason stated by Yad Vashem for denying the requests were that the proposers were not themselves Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
survivors, which is a requirement for inclusion in the list; and that maintaining close links with a genocidal regime at the same time as making humanitarian interventions would preclude listing.
Primary sources
Although Stepinac's life has been the subject of much writing, there are very few primary sources for researchers to draw upon, the main one being the Katolički List, a diocesan weekly journal. Stepinac's diary, discovered in 1950 (too late to be used in his trial), was confiscated by the Yugoslav authorities; it currently resides in BelgradeBelgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in the archives of the Federal Ministry of Justice, but only the extracts quoted by Jakov Blažević, the public prosecutor at Stepinac's trial, in his memoir Mač a ne Mir are available. Father Josip Vranković
Josip Vranković
Josip "Joke" Vranković is a basketball coach and former player from Croatia. Most recently he was a coach of Croatia national basketball team and KK Cibona, but since late November 2011 is unattached.-References:...
kept a diary from December 1951 to February 10, 1960, recording what Stepinac related to him each day; that diary was used by Franciscan Aleksa Benigar to write a biography of Stepniac, but Benigar refused to share the diary with any other researcher. The diocesan archives have also been made available to Benigar, but no other researcher.
The official transcript of Stepinac's trial Sudjenje Lisaku, Stepincu etc. was published in Zagreb in 1946, but contains substantial evidence of alteration. Alexander's Triple Myth therefore relies on the Yugoslav and foreign press—particularly Vjesnik
Vjesnik
Vjesnik is a Croatian daily newspaper, published in Zagreb. Through its history, it has been considered a newspaper of record.The paper was originally printed as a monthly publication by the League of Communists of Croatia starting in 1940...
and Narodne Novine
Narodne novine
Narodne novine is the official gazette of the Republic of Croatia which publishes laws, regulations, appointments and official decisions and releases them in the public domain...
—as well as Katolički List. All other primary sources available to researchers only indirectly focus on Stepinac.
See also
- Archbishop Stepinac High SchoolArchbishop Stepinac High SchoolArchbishop Stepinac High School is an all-boys Roman Catholic high school in White Plains, New York, that was operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York until the 2009-2010 school year when it became independent...
- A Catholic High School in White Plains, New York (USA)White Plains, New YorkWhite Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
named for Archbishop Stepinac. Includes a shrine featuring a bust of Stepinac by the Croatian artist Ivan MeštrovićIvan MeštrovicIvan Meštrović was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor and architect born in Vrpolje, Croatia...
. - József Mindszenty
- Óscar RomeroÓscar RomeroÓscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was a bishop of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He became the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, succeeding Luis Chávez. He was assassinated on 24 March 1980....
- John FisherJohn FisherSaint John Fisher was an English Roman Catholic scholastic, bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Church of England calendar of saints...
External links
- Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac
- Online Book: Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac - Basic Facts about His Person and Work by Simun Sito Coric
- Patron Saints Index - Blessed Alojzije Stepinac
- "The Case of Archbishop Stepinac", by Sava N. Kosanovic, Ambassador of the FNR Yugoslavia in Washington
- Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac, A Servant of God and the Croatian People
- Cardinal Stepinac Village (Retirement & nursing home)
- Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac and saving the Jews in Croatia during the WW2 © by Darko Zubrinic, Zagreb (1997)
- Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac - biography Glas Koncila