Cardinal Stepinac, Pope Pius Xii, and the Roman Catholic Church During the Second World War

Abstract

Like Pius XII, who fought to undermine the Nazis, Croatian Archbishop (later Cardinal) Aloysius Stepinac battled with the Nazi-like Ustashi regime. Like Pius, Stepinac was known to those close to him as a staunch opponent of Fascism, but also like Pius, his reputation was smeared by false accusations after the war. In fact, evidence that was manufactured by Communist authorities after the war to defame Stepinac, and which has since been established as false, has made its way into the historical analysis of Pius XII’s papacy. That false evidence continues to confound scholars and distort their appreciation of efforts undertaken by Pius and Stepinac to combat evil regimes and protect victims of all different backgrounds.

Keywords: Cardinal Stepinac, imprisonment, Pope Pius XII, WWII, Nazis, Ustashi, Tito, Communism, persecution of church, Croatia, Yugoslavia