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Catholic clergy involvement with the Ustaše covers the role of the
Croatian Catholic Church Croatian Catholic Church can refer to: * Catholic Church in Croatia * Greek Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia * Old Catholic Church of Croatia See also * Albanian Catholic Church * Belarusian Catholic Church * Bulgarian Catholic Church T ...
in the
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
(NDH), a Nazi puppet state created on the territory of
Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
-
occupied Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the U ...
in 1941.


Background

For centuries, Croatia had been a part of the Habsburg Empire. A variety of ethnic groups have long existed in the region, and there has been a strong correlation between ethnic identity and religious affiliation, with Croats being mainly Catholic, and more Western-oriented, while the Serbs are
Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...
. Following the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire at the close of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, the desire of
Croatian nationalists Croatian nationalism is nationalism that asserts the nationality of Croats and promotes the cultural unity of Croats. Modern Croatian nationalism first arose in the 19th century after Budapest exerted increasing pressure for Magyarization of Cro ...
for independence was not realised, and the region found itself first in the Serb-dominated
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
, and then in the equally Serb-dominated dictatorship of
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
established by King Alexander in 1929. Internal borders were redrawn dividing historical Croatia into several provinces. Political repression bred extremism, and the "Ustaša" ("Insurgence") was formed in 1929 by
Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and served as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, l ...
, with the support of Fascist Italy. In 1934, King Alexander was assassinated by a Bulgarian gunman, a member of the
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр� ...
, a radical group seeking independence, allied with the Croatian
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
group led by Pavelić. The new Regent Prince, Paul Karadjordjević, was convinced by the success of
Vladko Maček Vladimir Maček (20 June 1879 – 15 May 1964) was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political fi ...
's more moderate Croatian Peasant's Party at 1938 elections to grant further autonomy to Croatia. On 6 April 1941, Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece.Gilbert, Martin. ''The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy''; Collins: London (1986), p. 147 In their military campaign, the Axis forces exploited ethnic divisions in Yugoslavia, and presented themselves as liberators of the Croats. The then-victorious Axis powers set up a puppet state, the
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
(Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), which included Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the parts of Dalmatia not annexed to Italy. Deputy prime minister Maček refused to collaborate in a puppet government, and Pavelić's
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
was installed in power. In Pavelić, Hitler found an ally. Initially there was enthusiasm for Croatian independence, but the state was in fact under occupation by the German and Italian armies, while the Ustaša commenced a ruthless persecution of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, and dissident Croats and Bosnian Muslims. Archbishop
Aloysius Stepinac Aloysius Viktor Cardinal Stepinac ( hr, Alojzije Viktor Stepinac, 8 May 1898 – 10 February 1960) was a senior-ranking Yugoslav Croat prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal, Stepinac served as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his dea ...
of Zagreb welcomed Croat independence in 1941, but subsequently condemned Croat atrocities against both Serbs and Jews, and involved himself in personally saving Jews. The Pavelić government intended to rid Croatia of its Eastern Orthodox Serb minority in three ways: forcible conversion (1/3), deportation (1/3) and murder (1/3). From around 217,00 to 500,000 people (although the exact number is impossible to ascertain and is disputed by different sides) were killed by the Ustaša, both in massacres and at concentration camps, most infamously the one at Jasenovac. Most of the victims were Serbs, but Jews, Roma and dissident Croats and Bosnian Muslims were also targeted.


Independent State of Croatia


Creation and recognition

Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and served as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, l ...
, the head of the Ustaša, was anti-
Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
and viewed
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
as an integral part of Croat culture. Historian
Michael Phayer Michael Phayer (born 1935) is an American historian and professor emeritus at Marquette University in Milwaukee and has written on 19th- and 20th-century European history and the Holocaust. Phayer received his PhD from the University of Munich i ...
wrote that for the Ustaša, "relations with the Vatican were as important as relations with Germany" as Vatican recognition was the key to widespread Croat support. The creation of the
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
was welcomed by the hierarchy of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
and by many Catholic priests. Archbishop Stepinac supported Croatia's independence from the Serb-dominated Yugoslav state and arranged an audience with Pius XII for Pavelić. Author
Peter Hebblethwaite Peter Hebblethwaite (30 September 1930 – 18 December 1994) was a British Jesuit priest and writer. After leaving the priesthood, he became an editor, journalist (' Vaticanologist') and biographer. Life Hebblethwaite was born in Ashton-unde ...
wrote that Pavelić was anxious to get diplomatic relations and a Vatican blessing for the new "Catholic state" but that "Neither was forthcoming".
Giovanni Montini Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Aug ...
(the future
Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
) advised Pavelić that the Holy See could not recognize frontiers changed by force. The Yugoslav royal legation remained at the Vatican. When the King of Italy averred that the Duke of
Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Sp ...
was to be "King of Croatia", Montini advised that the Pope could not hold a private audience with the Duke once any such coronation occurred.


Pavelić audience

Pavelić visited Rome on 18 May 1941 to sign a treaty with Mussolini granting Italy control over several Croatian cities and districts on the Dalmatian coast.Cornwell, 1999, p. 252. While in Rome, Pius subsequently relented, allowing a half-hour private audience with Pavelić in May 1941.Hebblethwaite, Peter. ''Paul VI, the First Modern Pope''; Harper Collins Religious; 1993; pp. 153-57, 210-11 In the 1831 papal bull ''Sollicitudo Ecclesiarum'',
Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He ...
had drawn a clear distinction between ''de facto'' recognition and ''de jure'', saying that the church would negotiate with ''de facto'' governments, but that was not an endorsement of either their legitimacy or policies. Soon afterwards, Abbot
Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone (1882, San Pietro Infine, Italy – 1952, Montevergine) was a Benedictine abbot. He was ordained in 1906 and appointed Abbot of Montevergine, Italy in 1918. He served an Apostolic Visitor to Croatia during World War II, in ...
was appointed
apostolic legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholi ...
to
Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
. The minutes of a meeting, taken by Vatican Under Secretary of State Montini (later Pope Paul VI), noted that no recognition of the new state could come before a peace treaty and that "the Holy See must be impartial; it must think of all; there are Catholics on all sides to whom the oly Seemust be respectful." Phayer wrote that just after becoming dictator of Croatia and "after receiving a papal blessing in 1941, Ante Pavelić and his Ustaša lieutenants unleashed an unspeakable genocide in their new country."


Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone

The Vatican refused formal recognition but neither did it cut diplomatic relations with the NDH, preferring to work diplomatically to end Ustaša terror. In 1941,
Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius ...
did not send a ''nuncio'', or diplomatic representative, but an apostolic visitor,
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
abbot Dom
Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone (1882, San Pietro Infine, Italy – 1952, Montevergine) was a Benedictine abbot. He was ordained in 1906 and appointed Abbot of Montevergine, Italy in 1918. He served an Apostolic Visitor to Croatia during World War II, in ...
, as representative to the Croatian Catholic Church, rather than the government. Phayer wrote that this suited Pavelić well enough. Marcone reported to Rome on the deteriorating conditions for Croatian Jews, made representations on behalf of the Jews to Croatian officials, and transported Jewish children to safety in neutral Turkey. The Vatican used Marcone, together with Archbishop Stepinac of Zagreb, to pressure the Pavelić government to cease its facilitation of race murders. When deportation of Croatian Jews began, Stepinac and Marcone protested to
Andrija Artuković Andrija Artuković (19 November 1899 – 16 January 1988) was a Croatian lawyer, politician, and senior member of the ultranationalist and fascist Ustasha movement, who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Justice in ...
. In his study of rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust, Martin Gilbert wrote: "In the Croatian capital of Zagreb, as a result of intervention by arconeon behalf of Jewish partners in mixed marriages, a thousand Croat Jews survived the war." The Pope met with Pavelić again in 1943. Pius was criticized for his reception of Pavelić: an unattributed British
Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...
memo on the subject described Pius XII as "the greatest moral coward of our age." For their part, wrote Phayer, the Vatican hoped the Ustaša would defeat
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
in Croatia and that many of the 200,000 who had left the Catholic Church for the
Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches. The majori ...
since
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
would return to the fold.


Clergy involved in Ustaše violence

Mark Biondich notes that " e younger generation of radical Catholics, particularly those of the crusader organisation, supported the Ustaša with considerable enthusiasm, while the older generation of Croat Populists SSwas more reserved and in some cases overtly hostile." This generational gap between conservative and radical Catholic priests was further reflected by region (urban vs rural), the geographical location of churches and bishoprics, and an individual priest's relative place within the Church hierarchy. More senior clerics generally disassociated themselves from the NDH. They were also divided by religious orders. The Fransciscans, who had resisted for over fifty years Vatican efforts to turn over parishes to secular clergy, were far more prominently associated with the Ustaša than were the Salesians. Mass murder occurred through the summer and autumn of 1941. The first Croatian concentration camp was opened at the end of April 1941, and in June a law was passed to establish a network across the country, in order to exterminate ethnic and religious minorities.Evans, Richard J., ''The Third Reich at War'', Penguin Press; New York 2009, pp. 158-59 According to writer Richard Evans, atrocities at the notorious
Jasenovac concentration camp Jasenovac () was a concentration and extermination camp established in the village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. The concentration camp, one of the ...
were "egged on by some Franciscan friars". Phayer wrote that it is well known that many Catholic clerics participated directly or indirectly in Ustaša campaigns of violence, as is attested in the work of
Corrado Zoli Corrado Zoli (3 January 1877 – 8 December 1951) was an Italian writer, diplomat and explorer of Africa, born in Palermo. He was the colonial governor of Italian Eritrea from 1928 to 1930. Principal works *''La guerra turco-bulgara. Studio criti ...
(Italian) and
Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...
(British), both Roman Catholics themselves; Waugh by conversion. The Croatian Franciscans were heavily involved in the Ustaše regime. A particularly notorious example was the
Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
friar Tomislav Filipović, also known as Miroslav Filipović-Majstorović, known as "Fra Sotona" ("Friar Satan"), "the devil of Jasenovac", for running the Jasenovac concentration camp, where most estimates put the number of people killed at approximately 100,000. According to Evans, Filipović led murder squads at Jasenovac. According to the Jasenovac Memorial Site, "Because of his participation in the mass murders in February 1942 the church authorities excommunicated him from the Franciscan order, which was confirmed by the Holy See in July 1942." He was also required to relinquish the right to his religious name, Tomislav. When he was hanged for war crimes, however, he wore his clerical garb. Ivan Šarić, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vrhbosna in Sarajevo, supported the Ustaša, in particular the forcible conversion of Orthodox Serbs to
Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. His diocesan newspaper wrote: " ere is a limit to love. The movement of liberation of the world from the Jews is a movement for the renewal of human dignity. Omniscient and omnipotent God stands behind this movement." Šarić appropriated Jewish property for his own use, but was never legally charged. Some priests served in the personal bodyguard of Pavelić, including Ivan Guberina, a leader of the Croatian Catholic movement, a form of
Catholic Action Catholic Action is the name of groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, It ...
. Another priest, Božidar Bralo, served as chief of the security police in
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...
, who initiated many
anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
actions. To consolidate Ustaša party power, much of the party work in
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...
was put in the hands of Catholic priests by
Jure Francetić Jure Francetić (3 July 1912 – 27/28 December 1942) was a Croatian Ustaša Commissioner for the Bosnia and Herzegovina regions of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II, and commander of the 1st Ustaše Regiment of the U ...
, an Ustaše Commissioner of this province. One priest, Mate Mugos, wrote that clergy should put down the prayer book and take up the revolver. Another cleric, Dionysius Juričev, wrote in the '' Novi list'' that to kill children at least seven years of age was not a sin. Phayer argues that "establishing the fact of genocide in Croatia prior to the Holocaust carries great historical weight for our study because Catholics were the perpetrators and not, as in Poland, the victims." Sister Gaudencija Šplajt (born Fanika Šplajt) was a Catholic nun sentenced by the Partisan military court in Zagreb on 29 June 1945 to execution by shooting for aiding, harboring, and hiding a German bandit, the notorious Ustaša Tolj, and other Ustaše after the liberation of Zagreb.Presuda Vojnog suda Komande grada Zagreba Miroslavu Filipoviću-Majstoroviću i družini; Sud. broj 290/45; 1945., lipanj 29., Zagreb.


Clergy opposed to Ustaše violence

Pavelić told Nazi Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop that while the lower clergy supported the Ustaše, the bishops, and particularly Archbishop Stepinac, were opposed to the movement because of "Vatican international policy". Along with Archbishop Stepinac, bishops Mišić and Rožman objected to the Ustaša violence. Hebblethwaite wrote that to oppose the violence of the new Ustaše state, the "Vatican's policy was to strengthen the hand of rchbishop Stepinacin his rejection of forcible conversions and brutalities." Phayer wrote that Stepinac came to be considered as ''jeudenfreundlich'' (''Jew friendly'') by the Nazi-linked Ustaše authorities. He suspended a number of priest collaborators in his diocese. Thirty-one priests were arrested following Stepinac's July and October 1943 explicit condemnations of race murders being read from pulpits across Croatia. Historian Martin Gilbert wrote that Stepinac, "who in 1941 had welcomed Croat independence, subsequently condemned Croat atrocities against both Serbs and Jews, and himself saved a group of Jews." Aloysius Mišić, Bishop of Mostar, was a prominent resister.
Gregorij Rožman Gregorij Rožman (9 March 1883 – 16 November 1959) was a Slovenian Roman Catholic prelate. Between 1930 and 1959, he served as bishop of the Diocese of Ljubljana. He may be best-remembered for his controversial role during World War II. Rožm ...
, the
bishop of Ljubljana The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ljubljana ( sl, Nadškofija Ljubljana, la, Archidioecesis Labacensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia.Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...
, allowed some Jews who had converted to Catholicism and fled from Croatia into his diocese to remain there, with assistance from the Jesuit
Pietro Tacchi Venturi Pietro Tacchi Venturi (; March 18, 1861–March 19, 1956)''New York Times''. 1956, March 19. "Obituary 3--No Title". p. 31. was a Jesuit priest and historian who served as the unofficial liaison between Benito Mussolini, the Fascist leader of ...
in obtaining the permission of the Italian civil authorities. In Italian-occupied Croatia, Nazi envoy
Siegfried Kasche Siegfried Kasche (18 June 1903 – 7 June 1947) was an ambassador of the German Reich to the Independent State of Croatia and ''Obergruppenführer'' of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), a paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. Kasche was the proposed ru ...
advised
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
that Italian forces were not willing to hand over Jews and had "apparently been influenced" by Vatican opposition to German anti-Semitism. The intervention of Giuseppe Marcone, Pius XII's Apostolic Visitor to Zagreb, saved a thousand Croatian Jews married to non-Jews. The Apostolic delegate to Turkey,
Angelo Roncalli Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...
, saved a number of Croatian Jews by assisting their migration to Palestine. Roncalli succeeded Pius XII as Pope, and always said that he had been acting on the orders of Pius XII in his actions to rescue Jews.
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
has recognised many people from the area of the NDH as
Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sa ...
for rescuing Jews from the Holocaust, as of 2019 117 from Croatia, 47 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 15 from Slovenia. Those include Catholic nuns, Jožica Jurin (Sister Cecilija), Marija Pirović (Sister Karitas), and Sister Amadeja Pavlović, and a priest, Father Dragutin Jesih, who was murdered. Archbishop Stepinac denounced atrocities against the Serbs. Phayer wrote that in July 1941, Stepinac wrote to Pavelić objecting to the condition of deportation of Jews and Serbs and then, realizing that conversion could save Serbs, he instructed clergy to baptise people upon demand without the normal waiting time for instruction. As Pavelić's government cracked down on Serbs, along with Jews, gypsies, Communists and anti-fascists, the Catholic clergy took steps to encourage Orthodox Serbs to convert to Roman Catholicism.


Church and forced conversions

According to Matthew Feldman, " e NDH, not the Catholic orders, oversaw forced conversions; it was Ustaša ideology behind the influx of racial – not religious – anti-Semitism in 1941". " is was a secular, not a religious, regime, one that appealed to (and ultimately perverted) centuries-long Croatian traditions of Roman Catholicism to initially legitimate its rule." By 14 July 1941 – "anticipating its selective conversion policy and eventual goal of genocide" – the Croatian Ministry of Justice instructed the Croatian episcopate that "priests or schoolmasters or, in a word, any of the intelligentsia, including rich Orthodox tradesmen and artisans", should not be admitted. Those precluded from the "coming program of enforced conversion" were deported and killed, although many who converted or tried to do so met the same fate, anyway.Cornwell, 1999, pp. 250-51. Croats appropriated many Serbian Orthodox churches as "vacated or requisitioned". The Catholic episcopate and HKP, the Croatian branch of
Catholic Action Catholic Action is the name of groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, It ...
, a lay organization, were involved in the coordination and administration of these policies. Paris notes that more than 50% of the Catholic clergy were active supporters of the Ustaše regime. Ustaše crimes committed against the Serbian population were generally done so under the pretext of expanding Catholicism in the region. For example, the majority of Serbians interned in
NDH The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in ...
concentration camps were interned due to the fact that they refused to convert to
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. In many municipalities around the
NDH The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in ...
, warning posters declared that any Serb who did not convert to
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
would be deported to a concentration camp.


Catholic hierarchy


Archbishop Stepinac

Archbishop
Aloysius Stepinac Aloysius Viktor Cardinal Stepinac ( hr, Alojzije Viktor Stepinac, 8 May 1898 – 10 February 1960) was a senior-ranking Yugoslav Croat prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal, Stepinac served as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his dea ...
of Zagreb was, at the time of his appointment in 1934 at the age of 39, the youngest Catholic bishop in the world. He initially received very little guidance from the Vatican and was given great leeway in how to deal with the rise of the Ustaše. His control over the lower bishops and clergy was not uniform. Historian of the Holocaust Martin Gilbert wrote that, "Stepinac, who in 1941 had welcomed Croat independence, subsequently condemned Croat atrocities against both Serbs and Jews, and himself saved a group of Jews in an old age home." Stepinac shared the hope for a Catholic Croatia and viewed the Yugoslav state as "the jail of the Croatian nation". The Vatican was not as enthusiastic as Stepinac and did not formally recognize the Ustaša, instead sending
Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone Giuseppe Ramiro Marcone (1882, San Pietro Infine, Italy – 1952, Montevergine) was a Benedictine abbot. He was ordained in 1906 and appointed Abbot of Montevergine, Italy in 1918. He served an Apostolic Visitor to Croatia during World War II, in ...
as an
apostolic visitor In the Catholic Church, an apostolic visitor (or ''Apostolic Visitator''; Italian: Visitatore apostolico) is a papal representative with a transient mission to perform a canonical visitation of relatively short duration. The visitor is deputed ...
. According to Phayer, Stepinac, who arranged the meeting between Pius XII and Pavelić, was satisfied with this step, viewing it as ''de facto'' recognition and Marcone as a
nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international ...
in all but name. Stepinac began attempting to publicly distance himself from the Ustaša in May 1941. As the Ustaše murders "increased exponentially" in the summer and fall of 1941, Stepinac fell under "heavy criticism" for the church's collaboration, but he was not yet prepared to break completely with the Ustaše. Phayer wrote that Stepinac gave the Ustaše the "benefit of the doubt ... nddecided on a limited response." Stepinac called a
synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mean ...
of Croatian bishops in November 1941. The synod appealed to Pavelić to treat Jews "as humanely as possible, considering that there were German troops in the country." The Vatican replied with praise to Marcone for what the synod had done for "citizens of Jewish origin", although Israeli historian Menachem Shelah wrote that the synod concerned itself only with converted Jews. Pius XII personally praised the synod for "courage and decisiveness". Shelach has written that:
A bishops' conference that met in Zagreb in November 1941 was not ... prepared to denounce the forced conversion of Serbs that had taken place in the summer of 1941, let alone condemn the persecution and murder of Serbs and Jews. It was not until the middle of 1943 that Stepinac, the Archbishop of Zagreb, publicly came out against the murder of Croatian Jews (most of whom had been killed by that time), the Serbs, and other nationalities. In the early stage, the Croatian massacres were explained as "teething troubles of a new regime" in Rome by Msgr
Domenico Tardini Domenico Tardini (29 February 1888 – 30 July 1961) was a longtime aide to Pope Pius XII in the Secretariat of State. Pope John XXIII named him Cardinal Secretary of State and, in this position the most prominent member of the Roman Curia in ...
of the Vatican state secretariat.— Excerpt from Encyclopedia of the Holocaust.
According to scholar
Ronald J. Rychlak Ronald J. Rychlak is an American lawyer, jurist, author and political commentator. He is a Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law and is holder of the Jamie L. Whitten Chair in Law and Government. He is kn ...
:
Stepinac, after having received direction from Rome, condemned the brutal actions of the government. A speech he gave on 24 October 1942 stated in part: "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".
Rychlak writes that the "
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...
reported that "by 1942 Stepinac had become a harsh critic" of the Nazi puppet regime, condemning its "genocidal policies, which killed tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, and Croats." He thereby earned the enmity of the Croatian dictator, Ante Pavelić. ... henPavelić traveled to Rome, he was greatly angered because he was denied the diplomatic audience he had wanted", although he enjoyed at least two "devotional" audiences with the pontiff, under whom the Vatican granted Pavelić "de facto recognition" as a "bastion against communism". Phayer wrote that Stepinac came to be known as ''jeudenfreundlich'' (''Jew friendly'') to the Nazis and the Ustaše regime. He suspended a number of priest collaborators in his diocese. Stepinac declared publicly in mid-1942 that it was "forbidden to exterminate Gypsies and Jews because they are said to belong to an inferior race". When Himmler visited Zagreb a year later, indicating the impending roundup of remaining Jews, Stepinac wrote Pavelić that if this occurred, he would protest for "the Catholic Church is not afraid of any secular power, whatever it may be, when it has to protect basic human values". When the deportations began, Stepinac and papal envoy Giuseppe Marcone protested to
Andrija Artuković Andrija Artuković (19 November 1899 – 16 January 1988) was a Croatian lawyer, politician, and senior member of the ultranationalist and fascist Ustasha movement, who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Justice in ...
. According to Phayer, the Vatican ordered Stepinac to save as many Jews as possible during the upcoming roundup. Although Stepinac reportedly personally saved many potential victims, his protests had little effect on Pavelić.


Role of the Vatican

Cornwell considers Catholic involvement important because of "the Vatican's knowledge of the atrocities, Pacelli's failure to use his good offices to intervene, and the complicity it represented in the Final Solution being planned in northern Europe."Cornwell, 1999, pg. 249 Pius XII was a long-standing supporter of Croat nationalism; he hosted a national pilgrimage to Rome in November 1939 for the cause of the canonization of Nikola Tavelić, and largely "confirmed the Ustashe perception of history".Cornwell, 1999, pg. 250 In a meeting with Stepinac, Pius XII reiterated the words of
Pope Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...
, that the Croats were "the outpost of Christianity", which implied that Orthodox Serbs were not true Christians. Pius XII foretold to Stepinac, " e hope of a better future seems to be smiling on you, a future in which the relations between Church and State in your country will be regulated in harmonious action to the advantage of both." Undersecretary of State Montini (later elected
Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
) was responsible for "day-to-day matters concerning Croatia and Poland". He reported to Pius XII on a daily basis, and heard of the Ustaša atrocities in 1941. In March 1942, Montini asked the Ustaša representative to the Vatican, "Is it possible that these atrocities have taken place?", and responded that he would view such accusations with "considerable reserve" once the representative called them "lies and propaganda". Montini's fellow Undersecretary,
Domenico Tardini Domenico Tardini (29 February 1888 – 30 July 1961) was a longtime aide to Pope Pius XII in the Secretariat of State. Pope John XXIII named him Cardinal Secretary of State and, in this position the most prominent member of the Roman Curia in ...
, told the Ustaša representative that the Vatican was willing to indulge the Ustaša because: "Croatia is a young state. ... Youngsters often err because of their age. It is therefore not surprising that Croatia also erred." Stepinac was summoned to Rome in April 1942, where he delivered a nine-page document detailing various misdeeds of Pavelić. This document described the atrocities as "anomalies" that were either unknown or unauthorized by Pavelić himself; it is omitted from the ADSS. However, by 1942, the Vatican "preferred to have Stepinac try to rein the fascists in rather than risk the effect that a papal denunciation would have on the unstable Croatian state." According to
Eugene Tisserant Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...
, future Dean of the College of Cardinals, "we have the list of all clergymen who participated in these atrocities and we shall punish them at the right time to cleanse our conscience of the stain with which they spotted us." Pius XII was well-informed of the involvement of Croatian Roman Catholic clergy with the Ustaša, but decided against condemning them or even taking action against the involved clergy, who had "joined in the slaughter", fearing it would lead to schism in the Croatian church or undermine the formation of a future Croatian state. Phayer contrasts the Vatican's "limited and sketchy" knowledge of the genocide in Poland with "the Croatian case, in which both the nuncio and the head of the church, Bishop Alojzje Stepinac, were in continuous contact with the Holy See while the genocide was being committed." Cardinal Secretary of State Maglione instructed nuncio Marcone that "if your eminence can find a suitable occasion, he should recommend in a discreet manner, that would not be interpreted as an official appeal, that moderation be employed with regard to Jews on Croatian territory. Your Eminence should see to it that ... the impression of loyal cooperation with the civil authorities be always preserved." According to Phayer, the Vatican "preferred to bring diplomatic pressure on the Ushtasha icgovernment instead of challenging the fascists publicly on the immorality of genocide." However, according to Professor Rychlak, "Between 1941 and 1944, the Vatican sent four official letters and made numerous oral pleas and protests regarding the deportation of Jews from Slovakia." Rychlak quotes a letter from Pius himself, dated 7 April 1943: "The Holy See has always entertained the firm hope that the Slovak government, interpreting also the sentiments of its own people, Catholics almost entirely, would never proceed with the forcible removal of persons belonging to the Jewish race. It is therefore with great pain that the Holy See has learned of the continued transfers of such a nature from the territory of the Republic. This pain is aggravated further now that it appears from various reports that the Slovak government intends to proceed with the total removal of the Jewish residents of Slovakia, not even sparing women and children. The Holy See would fail in its Divine Mandate if it did not deplore these measures, which gravely damage man in his natural right, merely for the reason that these people belong to a certain race." Rychlak adds:
The following day, a message went out from the Holy See instructing its representative in
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
to take steps in support of Jewish residents who were facing deportation. Shortly thereafter, the secretary of the Jewish Agency for Palestine met with Archbishop Angelo Roncalli (later
Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...
) "to thank the Holy See for the happy outcome of the steps taken on behalf of the Israelites in Slovakia ... October 1942, a message went out from the Vatican to its representatives in Zagreb regarding the "painful situation that spills out against the Jews in Croatia" and instructing them to petition the government for "a more benevolent treatment of those unfortunates". The Cardinal Secretary of State's notes reflect that Vatican petitions were successful in getting a suspension of 'dispatches of Jews from Croatia' by January 1943, but Germany was applying pressure for 'an attitude more firm against the Jews'. Another instruction from the Holy See to its representatives in Zagreb directing them to work on behalf of the Jews went out on 6 March 1943.


Aftermath


Relations with SFR Yugoslavia

Following the defeat of Axis forces in Croatia in 1945, the Communist Partisan leader Marshal
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his death ...
established the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
, a Communist state which lasted until 1991. Yugoslavia was the only post-war Eastern European Communist state which had not been conquered by the Red Army. After the war, writer
Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...
, a Roman Catholic convert, advised the British Foreign Office, and Pope Pius XII that Tito "threatens to destroy the Catholic faith in a region where there are now some 5,000,000 Catholics." According to Phayer, "even before the end of the war, Tito had begun to settle the score with the Ustaša, which meant with the Catholic Church as well, because of the close relations between the two." Some of Tito's Partisans retaliated against the Catholic clergy for their perceived or actual collaboration with the Ustaše. By February 1945, at least fourteen priests had been killed; by March 1945, as many as 160 priests; by the end of the year, 270 priests. According to Waugh (who visited Croatia after the war), "the task of the partisans was made easier in that the clergy as a whole had undoubtedly compromised the church by tolerating the pro-Axis Ustashis, if not actively collaborating with them."
Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
, in particular, were singled out for Partisan attacks and fifteen Franciscan monasteries were destroyed. Pius XII sent an American bishop,
Joseph Patrick Hurley Joseph Patrick Hurley (January 21, 1894 – October 30, 1967) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida from 1940 until his death in 1967. Hurley also served as a Vatic ...
, as his envoy to Tito (as Hurley carried the title of "regent", this was a step below official diplomatic recognition). Tito requested to Hurley that Stepinac be recalled to Rome; the pope, however, deferred to Stepinac, who chose to remain.


Vatican "ratlines"

Following the end of the war, clandestine networks smuggled fugitive Axis officials out of Europe. The USA codenamed the activity the " ratline". In Rome, the pro-Nazi Austrian bishop
Alois Hudal Alois Karl Hudal (also known as Luigi Hudal; 31 May 188513 May 1963) was an Austrian bishop of the Catholic Church, based in Rome. For thirty years, he was the head of the Austrian-German congregation of Santa Maria dell'Anima in Rome and, until ...
was linked to the chain, and the Croatian College offered refuge to many fleeing Croatia, guided by Msgr
Krunoslav Draganović Krunoslav Stjepan Draganović (30 October 1903 – 5 July 1983) was a Bosnian Croat Roman Catholic priest associated with the ratlines which aided the escape of Ustaše war criminals from Europe after World War II while he was living and working ...
. According to Phayer, "at the end of the war, the leaders of the Ustasha movement, including its clerical supporters such as Bishop Šarić, fled the country, taking gold looted from massacred Jews and Serbs with them to Rome." Intelligence reports differed over the location of Pavelić himself.
Counter Intelligence Corps The Counter Intelligence Corps (Army CIC) was a World War II and early Cold War intelligence agency within the United States Army consisting of highly trained special agents. Its role was taken over by the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in 1961 and ...
agent William Gowen (the son of Franklin Gowen, a US diplomat in the Vatican) was one of those tasked with finding Pavelić; although the CIC hoped the relationship would reveal Pavelić's location, eventually, Phayer wrote, the opposite occurred and the Vatican convinced the US to back off. By Phayer's account, Pope Pius XII protected
Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and served as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, l ...
after World War II, gave him "refuge in the Vatican properties in Rome", and assisted in his flight to South America; Pavelić and Pius XII shared the goal of a Catholic state in the Balkans and were unified in their opposition to the rising Communist state under Tito. By Hebblethwaite's account, Pavelić was hidden in a
Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
convent until 1948, then brought to Rome by Draganović, who "was a law unto himself and ran his own show and lodged him in the
Collegio Pio Latino Americano The Pontifical Latin American College (Italian: ''Pontificio Collegio Pio Latino Americano'', Spanish: ''Pontificio Colegio Pio Latino Americano'') is one of the Roman Colleges of the Roman Catholic Church, for students from Central and South ...
disguised as 'Father Gomez'" until Perón invited him to Argentina. Phayer wrote that, after arriving in Rome in 1946, Pavelić used the Vatican "ratline" to reach Argentina in 1948, along with other Ustaša, Russian, Yugoslav, Italian, and American spies and agents all tried to apprehend Pavelić in Rome but the Vatican refused all cooperation and vigorously defended its extraterritorial status. Pavelić was never captured or tried for his crimes, escaping to
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
, where he was eventually shot by a Montenegrin-Yugoslav agent; he later died of his injuries. According to Phayer, "the Vatican's motivation for harboring Pavelić grew in lockstep with its apprehension about Tito's treatment of the church." Dozens of Croatians, including war criminals, were housed in the Pontifical Croatian College of St Jerome in Rome. By the spring of 1947, the Vatican was putting intense diplomatic pressure on the US and the UK not to extradite Ustaša war criminals to Yugoslavia. Special Agent Gowen warned in 1947 that, due to Pavelić's record of opposing the Orthodox Church as well as Communism, his "contacts are so high and his present position is so compromising to the Vatican, that any extradition of the subject would be a staggering blow to the Roman Catholic Church." Phayer contends that the feared embarrassment of the Church was not due to Pavelić's use of the Vatican "ratline" (which Pavelić at this point, still hoping to return, had not yet committed to using), but rather due to the facts the Vatican believed would be revealed in an eventual trial of Pavelić, which never occurred. Phayer wrote that Pius XII believed Pavelić and other war criminals could not get a fair trial in Yugoslavia. During this period, across Central and Eastern Europe, a number of prominent Catholics were being punished in reprisals, or silenced as potential sources of dissent by the new Communist governments being formed. The priest-collaborator Joseph Tiso, former President of the Nazi puppet state of Slovakia, was hanged as a war criminal. Rome had been advised that Communist Yugoslavia was threatening to destroy Catholicism throughout the country. In this climate, the Church faced the prospect that the risk of handing over the innocent could be "greater than the danger that some of the guilty should escape." According to
Eugene Tisserant Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...
, future Dean of the College of Cardinals, "we have the list of all clergymen who participated in these atrocities and we shall punish them at the right time to cleanse our conscience of the stain with which they spotted us." Pius XII was well-informed of the involvement of Croatian Roman Catholic clergy with the Ustaša, but decided against condemning them or even taking action against the involved clergy, who had "joined in the slaughter", fearing it would lead to schism in the Croatian church or undermine the formation of a future Croatian state.


Post-war trials

;Rožman Bishop
Gregorij Rožman Gregorij Rožman (9 March 1883 – 16 November 1959) was a Slovenian Roman Catholic prelate. Between 1930 and 1959, he served as bishop of the Diocese of Ljubljana. He may be best-remembered for his controversial role during World War II. Rožm ...
of
Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...
was the first bishop tried for "
collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...
" in Yugoslavia, ''
in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...
'', by the military court in August 1946. The case was reopened in 2007 by the Slovene Supreme Court and the 1946 verdict was annulled on procedural grounds. The British occupational authorities recommended he "be arrested and interned as a Ustaša collaborator". Phayer views his trial as a "warm-up for proceedings against Stepinac." After Rožman was convicted, Stepinac was arrested. Rožman emigrated to the U.S. sometime after the war and found a haven in the United States through the intercession of influential clerics. He died in the U.S., a legal alien but not a U.S. citizen. ;Stepinac The Archbishop of Zagreb,
Aloysius Stepinac Aloysius Viktor Cardinal Stepinac ( hr, Alojzije Viktor Stepinac, 8 May 1898 – 10 February 1960) was a senior-ranking Yugoslav Croat prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal, Stepinac served as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his dea ...
, was brought to trial by the Yugoslav government on 26 September 1946. Hebblethwaite called it a "showtrial for dramatic effect with the verdict decided in advance, it had nothing to do with justice or evidence." ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' magazine reported in October 1946 that:
In a Zagreb sports auditorium, brilliantly lit for photographers and 500 spectators, the
show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so ...
of Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac and twelve Catholic priests was rolling to a close. Charged by Marshal Tito with "crimes against the people", the 48-year-old head of the world's fifth largest Catholic diocese ... temporarily lost his equanimity. He shook an angry finger at the court, cried: "Not only does the church in Yugoslavia have no freedom, but in a short while the church will be annihilated."
Stepinac was indicted on charges of supporting the Ustaše government, encouraging forcible conversions of Orthodox Serbs, and encouraging Ustaše resistance in Yugoslavia. He repeatedly refused to defend himself against the charges and was sentenced to sixteen years in prison. Phayer argues that Stepinac could have defended himself from the charge of supporting forced conversions, but not the other two charges. Hebblethwaite wrote that Stepinac's support for Croatian independence had been based on the
Atlantic Charter The Atlantic Charter was a statement issued on 14 August 1941 that set out American and British goals for the world after the end of World War II. The joint statement, later dubbed the Atlantic Charter, outlined the aims of the United States and ...
and the principle that all nations have a right to exist. Archbishop Stepinac served 5 years in
Lepoglava prison Lepoglava is a town in Varaždin County, northern Croatia, located southwest of Varaždin, west of Ivanec, and northeast of Krapina. Demographics A total of 8,283 residents in the municipality (2011 census) live in the following settlements: * ...
before the sentence was commuted to
house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if al ...
. Pope Pius XII elevated Stepinac to the
College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are app ...
in 1952. Although Phayer agrees that Stepinac's conviction was the result of a "
show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so ...
", Phayer also states that "the charge that he supported the Ustaša regime was, of course, true, as everyone knew," and that "if Stepinac had responded to the charges against him, his defense would have inevitably unraveled, exposing the Vatican's support of the genocidal Pavelić." Stepinac had allowed state papers from the Ustaše to be stored in his episcopal residence, papers crucial to the Ustaše in retaking control of the country and which contained volumes of incriminating information against Ustaše war criminals. Stepinac was transferred back home to the village of Krašić in 1953 and died in his residence seven years later. In 1998,
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their n ...
him.


Ustaše gold

The Ustaše hiding in
Pontifical Croatian College of St. Jerome The Pontifical Croatian College of St. Jerome ( hr, Papinski hrvatski zavod svetog Jeronima; it, Pontificio Collegio Croato Di San Girolamo a Roma; la, Pontificium Collegium Croaticum Sancti Hieronymi) is a Catholic college, church and a society ...
brought a large amount of looted gold with them; this was later moved to other Vatican extraterritorial property and/or the
Vatican Bank The Institute for the Works of Religion ( it, Istituto per le Opere di Religione; la, Institutum pro Operibus Religionis; abbreviated IOR), commonly known as the Vatican Bank, is a financial institution situated inside Vatican City and run by a ...
. Although this gold would be worth hundreds of thousands of 2008 US dollars, it constituted only a small percentage of the gold looted during World War II, mostly by the Nazis. According to Phayer, "top Vatican personnel would have known the whereabouts of the gold." Surviving victims of the Ustaše and their next of kin living in California brought a
class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
lawsuit against the Vatican bank and others in US federal court, '' Alperin v. Vatican Bank''. Specifically, the Vatican bank was charged with laundering and converting "the Ustaša treasury, making deposits in Europe and North and South American, nddistributing the funds to exiled Ustaša leaders including Pavelić". A principal piece of evidence against the Vatican is the "Bigelow dispatch", a 16 October 1946 dispatch from Emerson Bigelow in Rome to Harold Glasser, the director of monetary research for the U.S. Treasury Department. Former OSS agent William Gowen gave a
deposition Deposition may refer to: * Deposition (law), taking testimony outside of court * Deposition (politics), the removal of a person of authority from political power * Deposition (university), a widespread initiation ritual for new students practiced f ...
as an
expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
that in 1946 Colonel Ivan Babić transported ten truckloads of gold from
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
to the Pontifical College. All the charges were eventually dismissed.


Notable people

*
Krunoslav Draganović Krunoslav Stjepan Draganović (30 October 1903 – 5 July 1983) was a Bosnian Croat Roman Catholic priest associated with the ratlines which aided the escape of Ustaše war criminals from Europe after World War II while he was living and working ...
(1903–1983), Catholic priest, organized Ratlines. * Tomislav Filipović-Majstorović (1915–1946; born Miroslav Filipović), Franciscan friar and Jasenovac camp commander infamous for his sadism and cruelty, known as "brother Satan". Captured by Partisans, tried and executed in 1946. * Petar Brzica (1917–?), Franciscan friar who won a contest on 29 August 1942 after cutting the throats of 1,360 inmates at the
Jasenovac concentration camp Jasenovac () was a concentration and extermination camp established in the village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. The concentration camp, one of the ...
. His post-war fate is unknown.


See also

* '' Magnum Crimen'' *
Clerical fascism Clerical fascism (also clero-fascism or clerico-fascism) is an ideology that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with clericalism. The term has been used to describe organizations and movements that combine religious element ...
*
Catholic Church and Nazi Germany during World War II Several Catholic countries and populations fell under Nazi domination during the period of the Second World War (1939–1945), and ordinary Catholics fought on both sides of the conflict. Despite efforts to protect its rights within Germany und ...
*
Conversion of Jews to Catholicism during the Holocaust The conversion of Jews to Catholicism during the Holocaust is one of the most controversial aspects of the record of Pope Pius XII during The Holocaust. According to John Morley, who wrote about Vatican diplomacy during the Holocaust, "one of the p ...
*
Holy See–Yugoslavia relations Holy See–Yugoslavia relations were historical bilateral relations between Holy See and now split-up Yugoslavia (both Kingdom of Yugoslavia or Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the only Ea ...


References


Sources

;Books * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ;Journals * * * * * ;Conference papers * {{DEFAULTSORT:Catholic Clergy Involvement With The Ustase Croatian Catholic clergy
Catholic clergy The sacrament of holy orders in the Catholic Church includes three orders: bishops, priests, and deacons, in decreasing order of rank, collectively comprising the clergy. In the phrase "holy orders", the word "holy" means "set apart for a sacre ...
Croatian Catholic clergy
Catholic clergy The sacrament of holy orders in the Catholic Church includes three orders: bishops, priests, and deacons, in decreasing order of rank, collectively comprising the clergy. In the phrase "holy orders", the word "holy" means "set apart for a sacre ...
Pope Pius XII and World War II Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust Ustaše Christian fascists Anti-Eastern Orthodoxy in Catholicism Catholicism and far-right politics Persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians u