A BOOK ON CARDINAL STEPINAC PRESENTED IN VATICAN

ROME, March 8 (Hina) - Vatican's State Secretary, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, presented the book "Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac", by Giampaolo Mattei, in the Vatican on Monday. Mattei is a journalist with the Vatican bulletin "Osservatore Romano", which published the book. Cardinal Franjo Kuharic, a former Zagreb Archbishop who attended the event, spoke about Cardinal Stepinac, who was beatified in October last year by Pope John Paul II. Sodano said that Cardinal Stepinac made history in a grand manner because he made sacrifices for all people. There is a dark legend about him being personally responsible for everything that happened in his country and to his people, he added. Cardinal Kuharic said that Mattei's book was an "answer to all those who opposed the beatification" of Cardinal Stepinac. Some opposed it because for years they had been "exposed to the propaganda against the Cardinal and could not learn the objective truth, while others remained insensitive to truth and justice because of ideology", Kuharic said. "The beatification of Alojzije Stepinac was preceded by 17 years of thorough investigation, which resulted in 38,000 pages of documentation and testimonies gathered. The Postulator investigated 130 archives. Some persons who participated in the arrest and trial of Stepinac also testified", said Kuharic, whose speech was very carefully followed. Attending the presentation were also all Croatian bishops, headed by the president of the Croatian Bishops' Conference, Zagreb Archbishop Josip Bozanic, Croatian priests, the Ambassador to the Holy See, Marijan Sunjic, Italian cardinals and bishops and other guests. (hina) rml