94 IVO BANAC
the 1967–71 Croatian equivalent of the Prague Spring, would
have been impressive even without the Catholic surge. But mass
gatherings such as the Thirteenth Marian Congress in Marija
Bistrica (August 1971), with more than 100,000 pilgrims in at-
tendance, provided the sort of mass phenomenon in this period
of relative freedom that felt especially threatening to the Com-
munist nomenklatura.42
At the height of the Croatian “mass movement,” in March
1971, Tito paid an official visit to Italy and to the Holy See. In Ti-
to’s conversations with Paul VI, the pope promised him that “the
Church for its part will avoid every sharpening in relations or the
introduction of unnecessary problems. [The Vatican] will draw
attention only to those questions that are of essential import
and whose resolution must be sought... by way of agreement
in the spirit of mutual understanding.”43 The Yugoslav govern-
ment was aware that the Holy See “mainly refrains from inter-
ference with state organs when it comes to practical questions
in the life of the Roman Catholic Church in Yugoslavia.”44 These
are the words of an official memorandum entitled, “The Interna-
tional Position and the External Policy of the Vatican,” prepared
especially for Tito’s visit. But the Yugoslavs were also adamant
that, should the Holy See insist, any demands for the “Catholic
education of youth” in Yugoslavia would be rejected as “contrary
to our social and constitutional order.”45
In terms of generational memory, the reform era of 1967–71
will remain the only period under communism when there ex-
isted considerable autonomous space, free of official domination.
For the first time since 1945—at least in Croatia—the ruling
Communists tried to legitimate their political monopoly in na-
- “Marijanski kongres u Mariji Bistrici,” Glas Koncila, August 22, 1971.
- Zabeleška o razgovoru Predsednika Republike sa Papom Pavlom VI 29. mar-
ta 1971. u Vatikanu, 3. AJ, KPR I-2/48–2. - Medjunarodni položaj i spoljna politika Vatikana, 5, AJ, ibid.
- Ibid., 8.