THREE
VATICAN II
AND YUGOSLAVIA
- • • Ivo Banac
The Second Vatican Council was not only a turning point in the
history of the Roman Catholic Church, in Yugoslavia no less than
elsewhere, but an important influence that contributed to a dé-
tente between the Yugoslav party-state and its principal ideolog-
ical adversary. It is telling that Glas Koncila (Voice of the council),
the most important Croatian and Yugoslav Catholic newspaper,
which was launched in October 1962 as an occasional stenciled
bulletin with the title Glas s Koncila (Voice from the council),
originally was meant to inform the priesthood of the archdio-
cese of Zagreb “about the most important work and events at
the Council.”1 In its first issue, which avoided all domestic news
except for the announcement of the departure of Council fa-
thers for Rome, the editors included an understated expression
of gratitude for the “cooperation, proposals, and suggestions” of
potential collaborators.2 This was the beginning of the revival of
a once-mighty Croatian Catholic press, which had been devastat-
ed by the Communists after 1945.
The Catholic Church in Yugoslavia, notably in the preponder-
antly Catholic northwest (Slovenia and Croatia), but also in Voj-
75- Stjepan Bakčić, “Dragi svećenici!,” Glas s Koncila (Zagreb), October 4, 1962.
- “Obavijesti,” Glas s Koncila (Zagreb), October 4, 1962, 23.