Zagreb (IKA) — Archbishop Cardinal Josip Bozanić of Zagreb conducted the main Mass on the Feast of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, February 10, in the Zagreb Cathedral, where the earthly remains of the beatus lie. During the Mass, Cardinal Bozanić said that we have to love the nation and the homeland, focusing on the love that is witnessed for us by the great and shining example of the Blessed Alojzije. He also said that as Christians and as the Church, we have to further the development of a new civil awareness in our country in order to promote the general good, responsibility in society and a correct attitude toward government institutions. During the homily, Cardinal Bozanić said that all of us who live and work in our homeland must not forget that we are personally called to be righteous and it is our duty to participate in the building of a country where there will not be contradiction: where a poor person will not be forced to stretch out his hand for charity; where young people will be able to establish families, where the elderly will be given security; where all will be able to work, learn, create and investigate; where a foreigner will be accepted because, noted the cardinal, we must not forget that many of our fellow nationals are foreigners in various countries of Europe and the world. Recalling that in 1936 Cardinal Stepinac said: “Love of one’s nation does not consist of empty phrases and empty chatter but first and foremost a virtuous Christian life,” Cardinal Bozanić explained that in every appearance by Cardinal Stepinac, the manner in which his patriotism grew from his faith in Jesus Christ is seen very clearly. It was grafted in love toward the Church. Everything that he emphasized as important: upbringing, knowledge, care for people of all ages, the family . . . did not lead to an absolute. For him any type of patriotism was anchored in faith.

Pointing out that there is distrust and pessimism in today’s world and also in our homeland, the cardinal stated that it is important to note that the roots of violence are insinuated in contemporary culture. Everyday events in the world seem to have dashed many hopes: battlefields flicker or burst into flames, terrorism does not cease, injustice does not wane, violence is spreading, streams of drugs also flow in our homeland as if everything were normal and find new backwaters; the public seems not be interested in the protection of creation, the environment, soil, potable water and clean seas; the world of the media and entertainment offer performances out of self-interest, and a low level of self-interest also bears a low, vulgar and banal level of entertainment, in the cardinal’s opinion. Speaking of how the networked world, raised on ostensible entertainment, can be a very foreign and alienated world, the cardinal explained that we could describe the crisis of contemporary times as the wrenching of the person from the social-historical-cultural tissue into which he was born, brought up and educated. The cardinal pointed out that herein also lie the reasons for the uproar regarding work on Sundays, adding that this crisis can only be solved with recommitted, profound, coordinated rootedness in the homeland in which a person is born and in whose history and tradition he is included. All of this, according to the cardinal, is only possible with a fundamental prerequisite: everyone must feel “rooted” in his or her own homeland.

Noting that Cardinal Stepinac devoted particular attention to intellectuals, Cardinal Bozanić urged intellectuals, people of science, culture and the arts, particularly believers, to find a place in the Church for their dedication, knowledge, gifts of creativity and imagination. He told them that that they can give the homeland a sense of a domestic atmosphere, and as people of the Church a sense of a culture that is characterized by life and work, seriousness and responsibility; a sense that changes public opinion and which seeks cooperation for the common good. To the assembled believers, the cardinal said that if we want to be true witnesses to Jesus, we cannot reduce faith to some private cult or private piety. Faith must become vital, a faith that permeates our entire being, that is salt, light, wealth and a gift for all. At the Solemn Mass in the overflowing Zagreb Cathedral, the concelebrants included the apostolic nuncio in Croatia, Archbishop Francisco-Javier Lozano, Auxiliary Bishops Josip Mrzljak and Vlado Košić of Zagreb, Archbishop Marko Culej of Varaždin, Military Ordinary Juraj Jerzerinac, Vladika Slavomir Miklovš of Križevci, provincials and approximately one hundred and fifty diocesan priests and religious.
The commemoration of the feast of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac in the Zagreb Cathedral began with a Solemn Mass celebrated that morning by Bishop Košić. Throughout the day, the faithful made pilgrimages to the grave of the beatus.