Original article (in Serbian) was published on 07/10/2022
On October 3, B92 published a very popular text, with more than 290 comments, titled “For Serbs, a criminal and a monster, for Croats a saint: Alojzije Stepinac, an Ustasha icon and a man without a heart”. The following day, this text was also shared by Beograd In.
The first paragraph of this text about the life of Zagreb’s archbishop and cardinal states the following: “On his second visit to Croatia, on October 3, 1998, Pope John Paul II proclaimed Alojzije Stepinac, the Ustasha archbishop, a Croatian saint”.
However, Pope John Paul II did not declare Stepinac a saint but blessed, which is a significant difference. The act of beatification (proclaiming someone blessed) is an act below canonisation (proclaiming someone a saint).
As Bishop Ratko Peric explains in the text “The difference between beatification and canonization”: “Beatification is, therefore, the papal permission or approval of a new veneration under the name of ‘blessed’ with the authorization to celebrate the liturgical memorial day or feast of the respective servant of God within certain boundaries of one diocese, of a religious community or people, without having previously been worshiped in this way. This is therefore the papal permission to worship ― permissio cultus ― in the form of future canonization or regardless of canonization. Beatification, therefore, is not the last word in the process”.
Peric also states the difference concerning canonization: “Canonizing means that the Roman High Priest prescribes to all believers in the Catholic Church the veneration of someone pleasing to God as a saint, determining that a solemn service is performed – St. Mass ― in honour of the saint in question”.
Pope Francis: The truth is not clear
The controversy surrounding whether Alojzije Stepinac should be declared a saint has existed for years. In 2016, the Vatican established a special commission of representatives of the Catholic Church from Croatia and the Serbian Orthodox Church to investigate and present their views on Stepinc’s life, including controversial issues of cooperation with the Ustasha regime and support for the Independent State of Croatia. After a year of meetings, this commission concluded “that different events, performances, writings and positions are still subject to different interpretations”. In 2019, Pope Francis said that the truth about Stepinac is not clear.
It is interesting that Stepinac was beatified by Pope John Paul II on the anniversary of the famous Stepinac trial (October 3, 1946), after which he was convicted on October 11 by a Yugoslav court for collaboration with the Ustasha, as well as the German and Italian occupiers. In his speech at the beatification, the Pope said: “Having endured in his body and spirit the cruelty of the communist system, one of the prominent figures of the Catholic Church, Archbishop Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac of Zagreb, now entrusts himself to the memory of his compatriots with the shining marks of martyrdom”.
Croatia currently has three Catholic saints: Saint Nikola Tavelic, Saint Marko Krizevcanin and Saint Leopold Bogdan Mandic, as well as 13 blessed ones, among whom is Stepinac.