KRASIC, Feb 10 (Hina) - The Apostolic Nuncio to Croatia, Javier-Francisco Lozano, Zagreb Auxiliary Bishop Josip Mrzljak and some sixty priests on Tuesday celebrated the Eucharist in Krasic, some 40 km south-west of Zagreb, to mark the
44th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, who was born in Krasic.
KRASIC, Feb 10 (Hina) - The Apostolic Nuncio to Croatia,
Javier-Francisco Lozano, Zagreb Auxiliary Bishop Josip Mrzljak and
some sixty priests on Tuesday celebrated the Eucharist in Krasic, some
40 km south-west of Zagreb, to mark the 44th anniversary of the death
of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, who was born in Krasic. #L#
The Croat people had known even before he died that Stepinac was a
righteous man and a victim of the communist regime, the nuncio said in
his sermon, adding that the martyrdom of the blessed Stepinac was
viewed as a source of a better life and future of the Croat people.
He warned about current challenges, such as secularisation, and
consumerism, which he said drew people away from God.
Lozano called on the faithful to follow Stepinac's Christian life,
saying that his martyrdom should inspire to forgiveness and love.
Stepinac (1898-1960) was in house arrest in Krasic for the last five
years of his life. He died on February 10, 1960. He was ordained in
1930 and took over the Zagreb archdiocese in 1937 after the death of
Archbishop Bauer.
The then Yugoslav authorities sentenced him at a rigged trial in 1946
to 16 years of prison and he was stripped of his civil rights for five
years on charges of responsibility for war crimes. In 1951 he was
transferred from the Lepoglava prison to his house in Krasic, where in
1960 he died in isolation, exhausted by illness. He was buried in the
Zagreb Cathedral.
Pope Pius XII declared Stepinac cardinal in 1952. He gained
international recognition for his opposition to totalitarian
ideologies and was beatified by Pope John Paul II during the Pope's
visit to Croatia in 1998.
(Hina) rml sb