The Death of Alojzije Stepinac: A Cardinal's Trial and Legacy

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the twilight years of Alojzije Stepinac, the Croatian archbishop whose life became a battleground for the country's 20th-century traumas. From his wartime role as head of the Catholic Church in the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia to his post-war trial by Tito's communist regime, Stepinac's story forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about collaboration, resistance, and moral ambiguity. Using recently opened Vatican archives and the testimony of those who knew him, the hosts examine how Stepinac's 1946 conviction for 'collaboration with the occupier' was both a show trial and a genuine reckoning with the church's compromises. They trace his time in the Lepoglava prison, his house arrest in Krašić, and his elevation to cardinal in 1953, before his death in 1960. The episode considers whether Stepinac was a saintly hero, a compromised collaborator, or something more human—and why his legacy remains a fault line in Croatian politics and religion today. Along the way, they uncover the quiet heroism of ordinary priests who sheltered Jewish families, and the Vatican's own diplomatic tightrope between fascism and communism.

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