Vatican II Behind the Iron Curtain

(WallPaper) #1

In response, Draganović and other émigré-priests started
criticizing not only the Holy See, but also the Yugoslav bishops.
The leading Croat émigré quarterly Hrvatska revija (Croatian re-
view, based in Buenos Aires), published a disturbing article in
June 1963 in which the author, identified only by the pseudonym
“Vigilantibus iura,” offered evidence of regime pressures against
the bishops: “Formerly the bishops were humiliated by a Serbi-
anized foreigner [Ambassador] Mihajlo Javorski, and now the
honors belong to a Communist from Croatia, [Ambassador Ivo]
Vejvoda, whereas the notorious S. Aleksić [also on the staff of the
Yugoslav embassy in Rome] continues his sordid business as in
the Javorski days. Aleksić lacks all manners: he thinks nothing
of reproaching Archbishop Šeper, in the presence of the Ambas-
sador, that he has met with such and such immigrant who is not
in Belgrade’s graces.”36 Indeed, in a note from the secretary of the
Yugoslav embassy in Rome recording Šeper’s conversation with
Ambassador Vejvoda in September 1963, there is a reproach that
“the writing of the Argentinian review Hrvatska revija... [proves]
that some bishops transmit directly or indirectly the contents of
conversations with the Ambassador and the authorities at home
to the political emigration... that then profanes them in the ser-
vice of anti-Yugoslav political propaganda[; this] cannot be toler-
ated by our side.”37
Still, Vigilantibus iura targeted first of all the Vatican itself,
which “cares little for the peoples that at the moment have no state
of their own.” The author accused the Vatican—indeed, Paul VI
personally—of avoiding the use of Croatian names and turning
St. Jerome “into a branch office of Communist Yugoslavia,” with
the aid of which the enemy “is smothering the martyr cry of per-


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  1. Vigilantibus iura [Ivan Tomas, Krunoslav Draganović, and Krešimir Zorić],
    “Hrvati na II. Vatikanskom koncilu,” Hrvatska Revija (Buenos Aires) 14, no. 2
    (1964): 156.

  2. Zabeleška o poseti nadbiskupa Šepera Ambasadi i o razgovoru sa ambasado-
    rom Vejvodom—26.XI.1963. g., 3., ABH, RKVP.

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