NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      ZAGREB (CWNews.com) - As Croatia prepared for a visit by Pope John Paul II who will beatify a controversial World War II-era cardinal on Saturday, Croatian Jewish groups expressed their support for the action.

      "The beatification of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac is an autonomous decision of the Catholic Church and the coordination of Jewish communities in Croatia has no objection to this decision," said Ognjen Kraus, head of Croatia's Jewish community in a statement released to media. The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Paris called for a delay in the beatification last week and the opening of confidential Vatican files to allow a further study of Cardinal Stepinac by a third party.

      While the Vatican and Croatians hail the cardinal as a saintly man who saved the lives of countless Jews and Serbians from the Nazi-supported Ustashe government, some Serbians and Jews have questioned his support of an independent Croatia during that time. After the war, the cardinal was tried and imprisoned by the Communist Yugoslav government. The Vatican has said that while the cardinal supported an independent Croatia, as the Ustashe did, that does not automatically mean he supported their other aims, goals, and activities.