Yugoslav Catholic émigré clergy in the 1960s

Abstract

The paper deals with the Yugoslav Catholic émigré clergy in the 1960s. The research focuses on its institutions, the modus operandi of their anti-Yugoslav practice as well as on their impact on Croatian and Slovenian émigré milieu. The topic was examined in the broader context of the relations between Yugoslavia and the Holy See in the 1960s. 

Summary: In the immediate post-war period, the Yugoslav émigré clergy contributed enormously to the evacuation of the remnants of the defeated forces (in particular Ustashas) from Yugoslavia and their clandestine transfer to the West. In the following decades, the émigré clerics posed permanent threat to Yugoslav interests both within Yugoslavia and abroad. Countless Croatian and Slovenian Catholic organizations in the West played pivotal role in the Croatian and Slovene émigré milieu. In the 1950s and 1960s the Catholic émigré clergy was lobbying against Western support for Yugoslavia and conducting a permanent anti-Yugoslav campaign in the émigré press. Moreover, the émigré clergy did not refrain from participating in terrorist activities against Yugoslavia. 

Nevertheless, the rapprochement between Yugoslavia and the Holy See in the mid-1960s considerably changed the position of the Vatican on the regime in Belgrade. Consequently, the Holy See was less willing to support radical anti-Yugoslav undertakings of the Catholic clergy, which paved the way to its partial depoliticization.