Stepinac, Alojzije, << steh PEE nahts, uh LOY zee yeh >> (1898-1960), was a Croatian religious leader who resisted the Communist government that took control of Yugoslavia after World War II (1939-1945). Stepinac served as archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia, from 1937 to 1960. Pope Pius XII elevated Stepinac to cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in 1953.
In 1941, during World War II, the Axis powers—led by Germany and Italy—invaded and occupied Yugoslavia. Croatia proclaimed its independence from Yugoslavia, and Stepinac supported Croatian independence. The leader of Croatia, Ante Pavelic, ordered the killing of many Jews, Serbs, and other minorities. Stepinac publicly and privately protested against these actions and other policies.
When the war ended in 1945, Croatia was reunited with Yugoslavia, and the Communist government of Josip Broz Tito came to power. Tito wanted Stepinac to make the Catholic Church in Croatia independent of the Roman Catholic Church. Stepinac refused and protested against Communist rule. The government arrested him and charged him with collaboration with the Axis powers and Pavelic’s government. In 1946, Stepinac was convicted and sentenced to 16 years of hard labor. He was released from prison after serving 5 years. But he was confined for the rest of his life to his native village, Krasic, near Zagreb.
Stepinac was born in Krasic on May 8, 1898. He served in the Austro-Hungarian army and in an Allied volunteer corps in World War I (1914-1918). Stepinac was ordained as a priest in 1930. He died on Feb. 10, 1960.
Pope John Paul II beatified Stepinac in 1998. Beatification is an important step toward declaring an individual a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
