Štimac Shares Stepinac's Speech
The former national team coach shared on Facebook the 1938 speech of Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, which clearly defines the relationship between faith and patriotism.
The former national team coach shared on Facebook the 1938 speech of Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, which clearly defines the relationship between faith and patriotism.
Former Croatian national football player and coach Igor Štimac shared on his Facebook profile on August 7, 2026, the speech of Blessed Alojzije Stepinac from 1938. The speech, originally addressed to Croatian intellectuals, deals with the relationship of a Catholic intellectual towards his own people and true patriotism.
In his address, Stepinac immediately dismissed the notion that educated people do not belong to their nation. "And what are you educating yourselves for? What are your efforts and struggles to acquire knowledge for?" he asked, emphasizing that a nation without a healthy and honest intelligentsia cannot progress, just as a man cannot function without a head.
He specifically addressed the objection that Catholics, due to their loyalty to the Church, are "international" and therefore less loyal to their nation. "Are you truly, because you document your loyalty to the Church, condemned to be less national than others? Or are you not precisely those who respect the Church and follow her teachings-are you not, I say, the true national intelligentsia and the nation's hope?" he said.
The speech highlights that many speak of love for their people for the wrong reasons. "Much is said, it is true, about love for one's people. But many speak of it because it benefits their pockets. Others again to more easily cover up various filth. Still others because they crave glory," said Stepinac, adding that for a convinced Catholic, love for one's people is a moral and ethical duty, not a matter of trade.
He directly told Croatian intellectuals: "Your love for the Croatian people cannot be a matter of trade, but is a moral duty. If you did not fulfill these duties, you would not be Catholics at all, just as I would not be a Catholic bishop if I did not love my people self-sacrificingly."
"A Christian Catholic not only may, but must love the people from which he sprang. This lies already in man's very nature. Christianity, moreover, does not destroy natural law, but perfects and ennobles it."
Blessed Alojzije Stepinac described the nation as "a great family, a great blood kinship." He explained that one loves one's own people more than others, "but without hating or despising any nation." Love for one's people and love for faith, he emphasized, "do not exclude each other in the least, but beautifully complement each other like twin sisters."
He also recalled biblical examples of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, the prophet Jeremiah, and the Apostle Paul, who wrote: "I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh."
Stepinac pointed out that the Catholic Church greatly respects national sentiment in its work. It appoints priests and bishops who speak the language of the people and respects customs that are not in conflict with Christianity. He concluded that the claim that Catholics cannot truly love their nation is "an empty tale."
"We dare to say that one cannot speak of true love for one's people in people whose lives are not in accordance with God's law and Christ's Gospel," he said. As the greatest good for the nation, he did not cite money, land, science, or force, but "faith and morality, honor and honesty." He concluded the speech with the words: "The Catholic faith is the first and greatest good of the Croatian people, as our entire history clearly testifies."
