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Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 17. July 18 1977

Catholic Atrocities

Catholic Atrocities

Dear Sir,

A lot of New Zealanders would agree with C.R. Malon's criticism of the Roman Church (Salient July 4) but because of a catholic prescence in the news media many people are unaware of just how hypocritical the Catholic Church is regarding abortion, although they might suspect something of the sort because it is unusual when an organisation with a long history of violence claims to be concerned about protecting human life.

Nearly everyone knows that during WW2 the German fascists gave racial minorities a hard time, but the Catholics have been successful in hushing up the similar activities of their Church in Croatia during 1941-44 which were directed against [unclear: religion] minorities. When Yugoslavia was invaded the German government allowed Ante Pavelich who was the head of a catholic paramilitary organisation to establish an independent state provided it declared war on the Allies.

In May 1941 Pavelich and a delegation went to Rome and were received and blessed by the Pope. "L'Osservatore Romano" explained this wasn't a breach of Papal "neutrality" because they had not been received as heads of the Croatian government but as "catholic individuals" ! The policy of the Croatian government was stated publicly by Dr Mile Budak, the Minister of Public Education and Creeds, in Gospic on 22 July 1941. He said "We shall kill one part of the Serbs, we shall transport another, and the rest of them will be forced to embrace the Roman Catholic religion". This policy was carried out with the full participation of the clergy including the head of the catholic hierarchy in Croatia, Archbishop Stepinac, and resulted in approximate 940,000 deaths. A list of the catholic priests who acted as executioners can be found on page 176 of "The Martyrdom of the Serbs" which was prepared by the Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese (for the USA and Canada). (Palandech's Press, Chicago, 1943). The hierarchial organisation of the Catholic Church meant that Stepinac wouldn't have encouraged the murder of non-catholics without the approval of his superiors in Rome who were informed of what was happening.

When Croatia was liberated Pavelich escaped and spent some time hiding in the Vatican itself but Stepinac was brought to trial and given sixteen years forced labour. In 1953 the Pope promoted him to Cardinal for his 'great services' to the Church.

So when the catholic clergy tell us they oppose abortion because it involves killing human [unclear: llie] we should be sceptical at the very least.

Yours etc.,

G. Herrington