Stepinac: his life and times
ROBIN HARRI

With his matinee idol looks, deep baritone voice and sterling record as a pastor, Alojzije Stepinac seemed destined for a long and glorious career when he was made Archbishop of Zagreb and head of the Church in Croatia in 1937 at the extraordinarily young age of 39.

As it turned out, glories of an unexpected kind awaited him. Within a few short years, Yugoslavia – of which Croatia was part – ­experienced invasion in 1941, Fascist occupation and then a Communist takeover. Never very interested in politics, Stepinac was fated to deal with politics for the rest of his life as he tried to steer his flock around the demands of conflicting totalitarian ideologies. He remains one of the most controversial figures of the Second World War period in former Yugoslavia, which explains why both Serbia’s president and its Orthodox patriarch wrote to Pope Francis in 2014 to condemn moves to canonise him. Loved by millions of Croats for his sanctity and patriotism, many Serbs loathe him in equal measure, calling him a persecutor, Nazi stooge and traitor to Yugoslavia.