Magnum Crimen facts for kids

"Magnum crimen: pola vijeka klerikalizma u Hrvatskoj" (which means Major accusation: Half a century of clericalism in Croatia) is a book first published in Zagreb in 1948. The book was written by Dr. Viktor Novak (1889 - 1977). He was a Croatian Roman Catholic priest and a professor at universities in Belgrade and Zagreb. He was also a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Science and Arts. In this book, Novak wrote about how the Roman Catholic Church influenced politics and society in Croatia from the early 20th century until the end of World War II.

The Vatican government, called the Curia, put the book on its list of forbidden books, known as the "Index librorum prohibitorum." They said that Novak was an enemy of the Catholic Church.

About the Book

Why Novak Wrote It

Novak wrote that he spent over 40 years gathering documents and books for his work. He started collecting this information when he was in high school and continued through university. He also collected material while working at the Austrian Institute of History in Vienna, Austria, and later as a university professor.

In 1941, after the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded and taken over, Novak had to destroy all the materials he had collected. He was in danger of being arrested and killed by the German forces and their helpers in Belgrade. He was one of the first ten people arrested by the Germans in Belgrade. However, he survived and was able to continue working on this book after Belgrade was freed in October 1944.

Novak dedicated his book to the people who suffered because of "clero-fascism." This term describes a mix of religious control and a harsh, nationalist government.

What the Book Covers

The author studied the Roman Catholic Church's activities in Yugoslavia for more than 50 years. He believed that the Church started to serve the Roman Curia (the main government of the Catholic Church in the Vatican) instead of serving God. Because of this, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Roman Catholic Church connected being Catholic with being Croatian. This led many priests to strongly support the Ustashe, a very nationalist and harsh group.

The book describes how the Roman Catholic clergy (church leaders) in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia tried to gain power. They wanted to be above the government, control the state, and even influence the daily lives of ordinary people.

The book has two main parts:

• The first part covers the Roman Catholic clergy's influence from the late 1800s and early 1900s in Austria-Hungary, and then in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
• The second part, which includes the last four chapters, talks about the rise and fall of the Independent State of Croatia. It also shows the strong support the Roman Catholic Church clergy gave to this state.

The main beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were that:

• Church leaders should be paid by the state, like government officials.
• The state should not have any control over the Church.
• The Church had the right to be fully involved in the political life of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
• Church teachings and religious education should be part of school lessons.
• Roman Catholic lessons in schools should be required for all students if at least one parent was Roman Catholic.

To achieve these goals, the Church supported political parties that were linked to the clergy. They created conflicts with other religions, especially the Serbian Orthodox Church. They openly preached hatred against Orthodox people and supported Croatian and Slovene separatism (wanting to break away from Yugoslavia) and intolerance towards others.

Josip Juraj Strossmayer was a Catholic bishop who believed that serving God meant serving people. He wanted to bring Croats and Serbs closer by using the Old Slavonic language in Catholic church services in the Balkans. However, the Roman Catholic clergy in Croatia and Slovenia strongly opposed his ideas. They taught that people should obey the Roman Curia and love the Pope unconditionally. Priests who remained loyal to Strossmayer's ideas were pushed aside, and some were even removed from the Church by the Zagreb archbishop.

Even though Strossmayer was later seen as a great Roman Catholic bishop by the same clergy, his teachings were often changed or not mentioned. The same happened to Franjo Rački, Ante Trumbić, and Stjepan Radić. These three Croatian politicians actively supported the idea of "Yugoslavism," which meant that all Slavic people in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia should live together. The struggle of Trumbić and Radić against central government control was twisted to seem like they supported Croatian and Slovene separatism.

Novak also showed that the Croatian and Slovene Roman Catholic clergy in Yugoslavia did not act against anti-Croatian activities in Italian-held Croatian and Slovene lands. These lands were given to Italy after World War I. When Croatian and Slovene priests were forced out of these areas and replaced by Italians, the Catholic leaders in Yugoslavia remained silent and accepted it without protest.

Ante Pavelić was a political leader whose actions and support for fascism were backed by the Roman Catholic clergy. Pavelić's nationalism connected being Roman Catholic with being Croatian, and the clergy actively supported and explained this idea.

The second part of the book describes the start of the Independent State of Croatia. It details the active support the Roman Catholic clergy gave to this state. It also shows their involvement in harming or forcing Serbs to change their religion, and in harming Jews and Roma people. The book contains many stories and documents that show how Catholic clergy actively supported, organized, and carried out these actions. One very strange event described was Roman Catholic priests in the Jasenovac concentration camp. They would harm prisoners in terrible ways every day, but then regularly go to the chapel to pray to God.

At the end of World War II, some Catholic clergy tried to defend themselves. They claimed they were against forcing people to change religion and against harming them. They said they sent letters and instructions to priests about this. However, the book points out that these letters were not made public and were not followed. In fact, an article from "Novi list" even argued that a Jewish person could not be saved by becoming Roman Catholic.

Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac is shown in this book as a very strong Roman Catholic leader. He publicly supported the creation of the Independent State of Croatia. He saw the Ustashe as Croatian patriots and defended them to the Pope. The book suggests he was responsible for the prejudiced views and actions of his clergy.

English Edition: New Discoveries

The English version of the book, published in 2011, is a translation of the 1948 edition. However, it also includes two new chapters. These chapters, XIV. Ecclesia militants at war with the ideology of Tyrš and XV. Libellus accusations, were left out of the original book. They were removed because of pressure from the secret police chief, Maks Baće.

The Sokol Movement

Chapter XIV is about the Sokol (meaning Falcon) Society. This group was started in Prague in 1862 by Jindřich Fügner and Miroslav Tyrš. The Sokol Society aimed to strengthen national pride and improve the mental and physical health of the Czech people through sports and good moral teaching. This idea quickly spread across Slavic countries. Sokol groups were later formed in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Poland, and Russia.

The Sokol movement had full support from Bishop Strossmayer. After Austria-Hungary broke apart and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was formed in 1918, Croatian Sokol groups joined with Serbian and Slovenian ones. They formed a large Sokol Alliance on June 15, 1919, led by Lazar Car.

However, some Croatian clergy who wanted Croatia to be separate forced Croatian Sokols to leave the Yugoslav Sokol Alliance in 1919–20. This caused conflicts within the Alliance based on political differences. At the same time, high-ranking Catholic clergy created a religious group called Orlovi (meaning Eagles). Their goal was to draw young people away from the Sokol Alliance.

The Croatian Catholic Church rejected the idea of pan-Slavism, which aimed to unite Catholic, Orthodox, and Muslim believers under the motto "a brother is dear regardless of his faith." Two Catholic organizations, Orlovi (Eagles) and Katolička Akcija (Catholic Action), were the main groups resisting the idea of Yugoslavism, brotherhood, and religious tolerance. The Catholic Church's opposition to this idea of pan-Slavism even led the Polish Sokols to not attend the international All Sokol Rally held in Prague in 1926.

Standing Up for People

Chapter XV, titled Libellus Accusations, talks about a few Croatian clergymen who followed Strossmayer's idea that serving people means serving God. The most important among them was Frano Ivanišević. He was a national fighter who promoted the use of the Old Slavonic Church language for Catholic services in Croatia. He showed that a Catholic priest who serves his people would not be against his Church or faith.

See also

In Spanish: Magnum Crimen para niños