A day of mourning has been declared in Croatia for Saturday, when Pope Francis' funeral is scheduled to take place at the Vatican. Yet not all public reaction in the country has been one of piety or sorrow. It might be an exaggeration to say that many in Croatia are rejoicing over the death of the head of the Roman Catholic Church, but there are probably a significant number of those who are in some way relieved.
These are primarily groups inclined to extreme ethno-rightist views, and among them the higher clergy occupy a special place. Along with purely secular political right-wing extremists, it was the clergy that was the main opposition to the Pope in Croatia.
This is not particularly prominent these days, although it is regularly mentioned in the media as an indisputable fact. Francis has often been openly criticized during the years of his pontificate, and even more tension has been generated indirectly, for example by visits by high-ranking priests to Croatia.
The Croatian bishops have not invited this Pope to visit their country literally once. This seems unthinkable, considering how celebrated the successive visits of John Paul II were. However, all this is logical if we consider that in return, various priestly opponents of Francis from Europe and the world were invited as guests.
"Humanity will not forgive him"
"There are not many secrets about the relationship between Pope Francis and a part of the Croatian higher clergy. First of all, he was absolutely against the dominant ethno-religious matrix here, which is characterized by a mixture of ethno-totalitarianism and ethno-clericalism," Branko Sekulić, a theologian and president of the Institute for Theology and Politics, told DW. He has commented on church affairs a lot in recent years.
But, as he adds, on the other hand, it is no secret that almost all of Francis's dogmatic decisions, in the church-Catholic sense, were quite conservative, thus practically remaining in the Vatican's previous positions.
"In doing so, he somehow allowed Catholics to think that even those people who differ from the usual 'Vatican profile of believers' have the right to exist within the church framework. In short, he was great because he showed humanity. And it is precisely this humanity that many will not forgive him," says Sekulić.
And these are, in his view, those who follow "not the ecumenical, but the economic moment", those who are dominated by "not the sentiment of Christ, but of the Crusades".
What was a pope like that who opened the door to the marginalized and oppressed, whether on racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, status, or any other basis?
Disagreements over Stepinac
"Only an enemy," Sekulić is convinced. "Because (Pope Francis) was simply 'bad for business' that operates on the principle of political and religious fundamentalism. As such, (that business) is largely a key economic branch of the church in this region – not only Catholic, but also Orthodox."
"Of course," adds our interlocutor, "it is stupid and ungrateful to generalize the church, but in light of everything we know about it in our region, it is certain that many were relieved by Francis' death and hope that they will receive their hope in the next pontificate. And that, in light of everything that is happening in the world today, is easily possible."
Among the specific moments that have come between Pope Francis and his lower-ranking colleagues in Croatia, Church historian and theologian Ana Mari Grinfelder singles out the subject of the unintended canonization of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac. Moreover, the Pope has called on the Serbian Orthodox Church as a partner in revising Stepinac's biography and valorizing his activities in World War II, as well as his cooperation with the Ustasha regime.
"After the war, the cardinal went through a certain amount of suffering," adds Grinfelder, "which should be taken into account. But I also think that his overall path does not offer a very exemplary picture of holiness."
Lack of choice
"It's an understatement to say that some in Croatia haven't forgotten him," says this long-time Austrian-Croatian chronicler of the Church. She also believes that Francis' reformist efforts have not taken root in Croatia. "This is evident even from the names, and apart from Mate Uzinić, I don't see any senior member of the clergy who bears any resemblance to Pope Francis."
In addition, Grinfelder emphasizes, the nuncios sent from the Vatican also play a major role in all of this. "The current nuncio, Giorgio Lingva, had great merit in his previous work in Lebanon, in reconciling different Christian currents," recalls Ana Marie Grinfelder. But she concludes: "However, in Zagreb he somehow drowned in the gray."
At the same time, "it must be acknowledged that Kaptol struggles with the lack of a larger and higher-quality selection of people, which is a problem in almost all of Europe."
And now the entire Roman Catholic Church is faced with the election of a new leader. It is assumed – if we stick to informal announcements – that this will be a solution conceptually relatively far from the character and work of Francis. Some in Croatia will certainly be satisfied with this, but ordinary believers are clearly mourning him these days – a pope who became so close to them that even a large part of the Church could not stand it.
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