Today we recall everything good that the Blessed Cardinal Stepinac did for the Croatian people and the Catholic Church

The 60th anniversary of the death of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac was commemorated with a Mass and a formal meeting of the municipal council in his native town of Krasic on Monday.

The events were attended by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, several government ministers and local government officials.

Mass was celebrated by Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, who said that "communist authorities feared Alojzije Stepinac more when he was dead than when he was alive because he was an intrepid defender of human and church rights, a resolute promoter of people's freedoms, while he himself was without external freedom."

After the Mass government officials laid wreaths at the monument to Stepinac and the faithful visited the memorial home where he died under house arrest 60 years ago.

At the municipal council meeting, Plenkovic pledged financial support for the renovation of the presbytery, a cultural heritage monument, and for other purposes relating to growing religious tourism in the area.

Plenkovic said that this was necessary because of the greatness of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac who knew how to stand up to the racial laws of the Nazi-allied Ustasha regime during the Second World War. "He was persecuted by communist authorities, but successfully defended the Catholic Church and its affiliation with the Holy See," he said.

Text: Hina

News | Plenkovic Andrej