VATICAN II AND YUGOSLAVIA 77Despite their checkered and controversial experience, aimed
at undermining the authority of the Catholic hierarchy, these as-
sociations, notably in Bosnia and Herzegovina, actually contrib-
uted to the normalization of religious life and eased the excessive
pressures on lay believers. When the Yugoslav bishops’ conference
(BKJ) sanctioned membership in these associations in September
1952, the Yugoslav secret police (UDB-a) initiated interrogations
of a large group of bishops. Then, at the end of November, at the
height of internal Yugoslav liberalization following the Sixth Con-
gress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ), when
Pope Pius XII announced the cardinals for the upcoming consis-
tory, among them the imprisoned Archbishop Stepinac, Yugosla-
via broke diplomatic relations with the Holy See on December 17,
- This was the lowest point in the encounter between church
and state in Yugoslavia.
A growing issue in this acrimonious relationship was the role
of some 250 Catholic priests (and a few bishops) in the political
emigration, notably in the Croat diaspora. According to Commu-
nist sources, half a million Yugoslavs, mainly Croats, emigrated
from Yugoslavia after the Second World War.5 From the stand-
point of the regime, “the postwar Catholic clerical emigration
was from the very beginning the most reactionary, most orga-
nized, and most active.”6
Among the centers of émigré life, Belgrade was particularly
bothered by the Pontifical College of St. Jerome in Rome, noted
for the anti-regime activities of Rev. Krunoslav Draganović and
several Croat priests. By his own admission, Draganović attract-
ed attention immediately after the war through his efforts on be-
half of “over 50,000 people,” among them war criminals, to leave - Većeslav Holjevac, Hrvati izvan domovine (Zagreb: Matica hrvatska, 1967), 338.
- Informacija, Archives of Bosnia and Hercegovina (ABH, Sarajevo), Republička
komisija za odnose s vjerskim zajednicame (RKVP [Republic Commission for Rela-
tions with Religious Communities] 1968).