Zagreb, (IKA) – Hundreds of pilgrims, young and old, poured into the Zagreb cathedral on February 10, the Feast of the Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, to visit the grave of the beatus and celebrate the Eucharist. The 47th anniversary of the death of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac was commemorated with the celebration of a Solemn Mass, at which over 4,000 of the faithful assembled, led by the archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, together with the apostolic nuncio in the Republic of Croatia, Archbishop Francisco-Javier Lozano, Military Ordinary Juraj Jezerinec, Auxiliary Bishops Josip Mrzljak, Vlado Košić and Valentin Pozaić of Zagreb; and hundreds of priests. The Mass began with a solemn procession led by Cardinal Bozanić and the concelebrants, which started from the newly restored portal of the Zagreb cathedral, about which Cardinal Bozanić mentioned at the beginning of his sermon that although the image of the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac was not among those carved on the portal, “the presence of his holiness is also immortalized by the Divine light which every year on the tenth day of the month of February illuminates the path and assembles the faithful for the celebration of his feast day.” The life and death of the Blessed Alojzije are revived by the commemoration that confirms God’s promise, but also more powerfully poses a question to the person, said Cardinal Bozanić, pointing out that the Feast of the Blessed Alojzije contain answers and that the essence and purpose of human existence are to be found in the depth of the testimony of this Croatian martyr.
It is heard today that the circumstances of the events of the Second World War and postwar period were simply the way they were. Attempts are made at excuses for why it had to be that way and that otherwise was not possible. Everyone who loves the truth is drawn to Stepinac, who presented a clear conscience and who demonstrated that it was not necessary to act against the person; that it was not necessary to remain silent. To our sorrow, after all the communist horrors, response from the persons responsible for human suffering has not been heard in Croatia. Moreover, it is to our sorrow that the mentality of that era spawned a culture that has lost shame. Not only did criminals fail to acknowledge their crimes but they even failed to show a sense of shame in the sight of man and God, said the archbishop of Zagreb and added: “In the communist regime, a culture was created that intended to drive God from his garden; deafen ears to the questions that God asks man and drive shame from human life, leading people with a lie in order to blunt their consciences. Cardinal Stepinac recognized this and fearlessly issued public warnings,” said Cardinal Bozanić. It is, therefore, not by chance that he defended Catholic culture, even when it was expected that he would defend himself. He knew that the Croatian nation could not live on the communist culture of lies that it fed upon every day. He cared about the Christian culture of solidarity, concern for the other on all levels of society, for the evangelization of a culture that for centuries had been cultivated by the proximity of the Church and the Croatian nation, said the archbishop of Zagreb about the Blessed Stepinac.
“Today, at a time of particular expectations of the contemporary world, in which there are aspirations for a new civil coexistence, it is the duty of all who confess Christian faith to bring evangelical values into public life. This is the path that builds a specific culture that is central in the overall growth of the human being. The essence of devotion toward the Blessed Alojzije means to build an evangelical culture. For new generations to live as Christians opens horizons of culture and truth, in which they do not close themselves off before the challenges of the new, but attempt to interpret these same challenges in the light of the gospel. Unfortunately, the image of contemporary society, with many worthy exceptions, contains forebodings of dark clouds. We are witnesses to ideological currents, injustice and violent phenomena that hinder the path of education, leaving disintegration and uncertainty, particularly among young persons, warned the cardinal.
The entire anthropological and ethical approach of Christianity, its manner of comprehending existence, i.e. the truth of human life, joy, pain and dying, only find their legitimacy in the historical and eschatological reality that was opened by the Resurrection of Christ. Today, some think that it is difficult to find a meeting point between culture and faith and that the only solution is a type of religion divested of cultural characteristics, but this is a faith “without clear points of reference for life.” However, it is precisely the Church and Christianity that can help Europe in new encounters with other cultures and religions of the world, responding to the question to which a closed approach cannot respond, as is intrinsic to radical secularism. Therefore, we Catholics must not remain quiet as we observe how a political-cultural form of opposition is developing in Croatia between artificially created domains of “conservative” and “progressive.” The ultimate fruit can only be a cynical struggle for power and dominance. Obviously, the creation of such an atmosphere, an atmosphere of bipolarism without roots, except for disastrous divisions, irrigates and fertilizes the soil for interests that are not disturbed by questions of morality. The task of the Church, as a prophetic nation, is to tend the area in which there are no direct partial interests, except responsibility for the person and for the truth about him, said the archbishop of Zagreb.
Therefore, Cardinal Bozanić urged scholars, cultural figures, artists, educational and scientific circles to participate in the discussions during the synod and not to forget that they are needed by the Church; “You are the promoters of Christian culture; you can reweave the broken threads of Catholic presence in the Croatian society that the communist ideologues, authorities and perpetrators zealously tore apart for many decades. Do not remain silent, esteemed scholars, cultural figures, artists, educators, persons in healthcare and the media, when the family is torn apart; do not accept truths that only serve to derive a profit; do not bow your heads when zealous propagandists thunder that Catholics are backward, do not waiver before those who feel that belief in God is a marginal question for your children,” urged the archbishop of Zagreb, warning that “today the right has nearly been taken away from parents to decide on the education of their children and to be informed of the content of their education.” It is not possible, the cardinal cautioned further, to reduce the person to a collection of needs. “In a person lives a desire, a yearning for the good, for the truth, beauty and joy, and not only the need for sale prices of merchandise and entertainment. Politics in the final analysis cannot be the response to fundamental human yearnings. Political activity should create conditions in which a person’s yearnings can develop, grow and be fulfilled. This is the place of life and religious freedom, education, healthcare, entrepreneurship … The greatest good that God gave humankind is life and freedom … The family is the place in which human life is born … Therefore, the Church always defends human life and places it in the center of its social doctrine, with the family as the first place of accepting life and education, freedom of expression of a religious view of life and the principle of the subsidiarity of the state,” said Cardinal Bozanić.
At the end of his homily, the cardinal said: “This evening, the truth is being proclaimed to us about a man, the truth bearing a Christian culture brimming with gifts, the truth about our suffering Croatian nation, a nation who recognized certainty in God and entrusted to Him the foundation of its life. When we are offered some new foundation that does not proclaim the truth at its base, we are not afraid to say that we are deeply rooted in Christ; that we are members of the Catholic Church; that we have our position about everything in public life and that we have models before us such as the Blessed Alojzije,” said the archbishop of Zagreb.