In a speech to Croatian intellectuals, published in Hrvatska straža on March 29, 1938, Blessed Alojzije Stepinac explained how love for one's homeland and the Catholic faith are not mutually exclusive but complementary.
The portal Bitno.net published on August 5, 2026, an extraordinary speech by Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac, addressed to Croatian intellectuals back in 1938. In it, the blessed, whose words still resonate today, systematically answers a question that troubled the generations of that time and, it seems, today's as well: what is the relationship of a devout Catholic to his own people, and what is true patriotism?
Stepinac began his address directly, intending to present the official stance of the Church. "I wish to take this opportunity to present the Church's view on a matter that is much discussed today and that often puts your souls to the test, namely, the relationship of a devout Catholic intellectual to his people," he said, as recorded in Hrvatska straža, issue 72, of March 29, 1938.
Addressing academics and future intellectuals, the archbishop rejected claims that educated individuals do not belong to their people. He asserted that this idea is unfounded, posing a rhetorical question about the purpose of their education. "Just as a man cannot truly progress without a head, without sound reason, so too a people cannot truly progress without a sound and honest intelligentsia," he conveyed. He emphasized that there is no danger that a people would reject those who genuinely care for their spiritual and material advancement.
He then directly confronted the objection that, as he said, was directed at them. He relayed the accusation that Catholics are "international" and, therefore, "unpatriotic" and lack feeling for their own people. "Catholics, they say, are international. Therefore, they are unpatriotic and have no feeling for the people," Stepinac quoted this stance, only to then argue against it with reasoned arguments.
Blessed Alojzije exposed various, in his view insincere, motives behind declarative patriotism. "Much is said, it is true, about love for one's people. But many speak of it because it benefits their pockets. Others do so to more easily cover up various filth. Still others because they crave glory," he warned. In contrast, for a devout Catholic, love for one's people is not a matter of trade but a "moral and ethical duty."
He applied this duty both to his own pastoral ministry and to their responsibility. "A Christian Catholic not only may but must love the people from which he sprang," Stepinac emphasized. He explained this through natural law, which Christianity does not destroy but perfects. He compared a people to a large family, a great blood kinship, where it is natural for brothers and sisters to love each other more than other people, but without hatred toward other nations.
The core of his address is encapsulated in one of the key sentences: "Love, therefore, for one's people and love for the Catholic faith do not exclude each other in the least, but rather beautifully complement each other like twin sisters who have one and the same Father in heaven." To support this claim, he cited biblical examples. He mentioned Jesus Christ, who first preached to his own people, the love of the Mother of God expressed in the canticle 'Magnificat,' the weeping of the prophet Jeremiah for his people, and the words of St. Paul from the Letter to the Romans.
Along these lines, he asserted that it is a "fairy tale that Catholics cannot truly love their people." Such claims, according to him, can only be made by those who do not love the truth or deliberately spread falsehood. He went a step further, stating that true love for one's people cannot be spoken of in people whose lives are not in accordance with God's law.
Defining love with the Latin sentence "Amare est bonum velle" (To love is to will the good), Stepinac posed the key question: what is the greatest good for an individual and for a people? His answer was neither money, nor land, nor science, nor force. "That is neither money, nor land, nor science, nor force, but faith and morality, honor and honesty," he conveyed. For the Croatian People, this is, according to him, particularly clear. "Yes, the Catholic faith is the first and greatest good of the Croatian People, as our entire history clearly testifies," he concluded.
The speech ended with a penetrating question that is also a warning: "Does he, therefore, truly love his people who, in word and deed, defiles the faith of his fathers and strives to tear youth away from Christ? What will the right to freedom ultimately avail a people, what will the whole world avail, if it is once condemned to death!"
