The Catholic Church and the Independent State of Croatia: Controversies

Odnos Nezavisne Države Hrvatske i Katoličke crkve ne može se sagledati u kontekstu crnog i bijelog. Postoje značajni dokazi koji nam ukazuju da je crkva, a i njezin kler bio umiješan u rad ustaškog režima. S druge strane, postoje mnogobrojni primjeri djelovanja crkvene hijerarhije koji ukazuju na suprotno. Činjenica je da su ustaše u Crkvi vidjele svog prirodnog saveznika, dovoljno moćnog da se oslone na njegovu pomoć u svojim težnjama za stvaranje hrvatske države. No u tom pogledu je bitno shvatiti da su ustaše promovirale opredijeljenost katoličkoj vjeri u smislu naglašavanja hrvatskog identiteta, te uglavnom nisu bili zainteresirani za specifična pitanja vjere poput vjerskih dogmi. Ovaj rad razmatra ulogu katolicizma kao instrumenta Nezavisne Države Hrvatske. Nakon pregleda politike Vatikana i uloge medija i svećenika te biskupa, nastoji se odgovoriti na pitanje kakva je bila povezanost ta dva koncepta u navedenom razdoblju.The relation between the Independent State of Croatia and the Catholic Church cannot be viewed in a black or white historical context. There are significant evidence which show that the Church, as well as its clergy, were involved in activities of the Ustasha regime. On the other hand, there have also been multiple examples of activities from the Church hierarchy which suggest otherwise. It is a fact that the regime saw a natural ally in Church, powerful enough to rely on its help with their tendencies to create a croatian state. However, it is important to understand that in that context, the Ustashe promoted affiliation with catholic religion in a sense that they emphasized the croatian identity and mostly were not interested in specific religious questions such as dogmas. In this thesis the role of catholicism as an instrument of Independent State of Croatia is considered. After a review of Vatican politics and the role of media as well as those of priests and bishops, an answer to the question regarding the connection between those two concepts in given time is attempted