Pope praises convicted pro-Ustasha cardinal

A WW2 Croatian Catholic archbishop and cardinal, put on trial by the post-war Yugoslav authorities, was praised by Pope Benedict XVI.

Izvor: B92

Monday, 06.06.2011.

11:03

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A WW2 Croatian Catholic archbishop and cardinal, put on trial by the post-war Yugoslav authorities, was praised by Pope Benedict XVI. Alojzije Stepinac was found guilty by the communist authorities of Yugoslavia for collaboration with the Ustasha regime of the pro-Nazi Independent State of Croatia (NDH). Pope praises convicted pro-Ustasha cardinal This regime ran death camps such as Jasenovac and Nova Gradiska, where mass slaughter of Serbs, Jews and Roma was committed. But the Roman Catholic pope, on an official visit to Croatia over the weekend, said Stepinac had his Christian consciousness to thank for "resisting totalitarianism". Benedict addressed a mass at a Zagreb cathedral on Sunday to add that Stepinac in fact "protected Jews and the Orthodox during the Nazi era". The Catholic Church already had him beatified, while Croats are now hoping Stepinac will be declared a saint. The pope said Stepinac was a martyr who - beside protecting Jews and Serbs - also resisted totalitarianism by "protecting his worshipers during the communist times, as well as many persecuted and murdered priests". Stepinac was charged and found guilty of being aware of the crimes as they were committed in the death camps, and of organizing forced conversion of several thousand Serbs to Catholicism. But Benedict XVI described him as a man who "stood up for the truth and the right of man to live with God". "His martyrdom marks the height of violence directed against the (Catholic) Church during the horrible period of communist persecutions. Croatian Catholics were subjected to torture and systematic violence which aimed to destroy the Church, starting with its highest authority," asserted the pope. The pope in Croatia (Beta)

Pope praises convicted pro-Ustasha cardinal

This regime ran death camps such as Jasenovac and Nova Gradiška, where mass slaughter of Serbs, Jews and Roma was committed.

But the Roman Catholic pope, on an official visit to Croatia over the weekend, said Stepinac had his Christian consciousness to thank for "resisting totalitarianism".

Benedict addressed a mass at a Zagreb cathedral on Sunday to add that Stepinac in fact "protected Jews and the Orthodox during the Nazi era".

The Catholic Church already had him beatified, while Croats are now hoping Stepinac will be declared a saint.

The pope said Stepinac was a martyr who - beside protecting Jews and Serbs - also resisted totalitarianism by "protecting his worshipers during the communist times, as well as many persecuted and murdered priests".

Stepinac was charged and found guilty of being aware of the crimes as they were committed in the death camps, and of organizing forced conversion of several thousand Serbs to Catholicism. But Benedict XVI described him as a man who "stood up for the truth and the right of man to live with God".

"His martyrdom marks the height of violence directed against the (Catholic) Church during the horrible period of communist persecutions. Croatian Catholics were subjected to torture and systematic violence which aimed to destroy the Church, starting with its highest authority," asserted the pope.

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