c. 1998 Religion News Service

ZAGREB, Croatia _ Tens of thousands of people greeted Pope John Paul II as he arrived in the capital of this largely Catholic nation Friday (Oct. 2), a nation still recovering from its war for independence from the former Yugoslavia.”After the violent and brutal war in which it found itself involved, Croatia is finally experiencing a period of peace and freedom,” the pope said at an airport ceremony marking the start of his three-day visit.”Now all the population’s energies are dedicated to the gradual healing of the deep wounds … to a genuine reconciliation among all the nation’s ethnic, religious and political groups and to an ever greater democratization.”

By visiting Croatia a second time, the pope paid tribute to the revived Catholicism that followed the end of Yugoslavia’s communist, anti-religious government.

Croatians lined the streets and thronged the squares in central Zagreb, cheering enthusiastically as the pontiff waved to them from the Popemobile on his way to the city’s cathedral. There, he paid tribute at the grave of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, whom he is scheduled to beatify tomorrow as a martyr to communist persecution.

But the pope also waded into disputes past and present. Some viewed his visit as buttressing the authoritarian regime of President Franjo Tudjman, widely viewed as a major contributor to the nationalism that spawned the Balkan wars of the 1990s, while others saw it as the opposite _ support for the outspoken new archbishop of Zagreb, a critic of Tudjman’s regime.

The beatification of Stepinac also aroused controversy because of disputes over the cardinal’s role during World War II. Serbs in particular have depicted Stepinac as a collaborator with the pro-Nazi Ustasha regime, which killed tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs and Gypsies.

The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center urged the pope to delay Stepinac’s beatification pending a historical review, but a Croatian Jewish group said Stepinac defended many from persecution.

Tudjman took on both controversies directly at the airport ceremony, saying fascism was forced on Croatia by the Axis powers and he denounced”the forces which would wish to impose on the Croatian people, the Catholic Church and this democratic Croatia the blame for fascist sins and crimes.” Tudjman also said the pope’s visit affirms Croatia’s move toward democracy and a Western, market-oriented economy.

But if the actions of John Paul’s newly appointed archbishop of Zagreb are any indication, Tudjman will not be in for a cozy chat with the pontiff when they meet Saturday.

Archbishop Josip Bozanic has denounced government corruption, which he said enables the”rapid enrichment of some individuals and even bigger impoverishment of many people.” The 49-year-old archbishop has also called for greater tolerance of ethnic diversity in a land which saw some of the Balkans’ worst fighting along ethnic and religious lines, not only in the wars following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, but also in World War II and earlier.

Croatians have viewed themselves as defenders of the Christian faith in the Balkans, through which the fault lines run between Catholicism and Orthodoxy as well as Christianity and Islam.

Bozanic’s predecessor, Archbishop Franjo Kuharic, was viewed as favoring Tudjman’s nationalist policies.

On his arrival Friday, the pope paid tribute to Croatian Christians’ perseverance under persecution from ancient Rome to later Turkish and communist regimes.”It is fundamentally important that the Croatian people remain faithful to their Christian roots,” he said.

His two purposes of visiting, he said, were to beatify Stepinac and to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the coastal city of Split, which he will visit Sunday.

After the pope’s motorcade passed through the center of Zagreb, spectators gave the pope’s visit mixed reviews.”It’s the biggest day for us, because we are Catholic,” said television producer Damir Racic, 30. His wife, Jasna, said she cried with joy as the pope’s motorcade passed.

Damir Racic called the pope’s visit a tribute to”our new state”and its historic role as a religious borderland.”Many people died for religion”in Croatia over the centuries, Racic said. By fighting for its Christian heritage, Croatia took”the first step of democracy.” But a group of law students, who said they came to see the pontiff out of respect, also said they wished he hadn’t come.”I’m a religious man, but the pope gives satisfaction to this regime, and this regime isn’t good,”said Marko, 20, who refused to give his last name, citing fear of the police.

He said the pope _ who as a Pole shares Croatians’ Slavic heritage and their emergence from communist repression _ is more worried about a revival of communism than the wrongs of the present regime.

Tudjman, 75, has recovered from a bout with cancer but remains in uncertain health, and his nationalist Croatian Democratic Union party (HDZ) has been losing in recent local elections, though the party remains strong nationally and controls the state television.

The pope will beatify Stepinac on Saturday in nearby Marija Bistrica, site of a Marian shrine where the late cardinal often went on pilgrimage. After meeting with Tudjman and other Croatian leaders, the pope will fly to Split, on the Adriatic coast, for a Mass and a meeting with young people.

Hours before the pope arrived, a nearly suffocating press of crowds gathered in the small cathedral square, while others lined the streets from the airport into the city center. Thousands in the main Ban Josip Jelacic Square watched the proceedings on a large-screen television.”He has the face of a saint,” said student Andjelina Mamic, 20, who said the pope’s previous trip in 1994 changed her life.”From then, my life is better.” Others were more dismissive.

The religious revival in Croatia is”trendy and everyone knows it,”Sasa, 33, a representative for a modeling agency, said as he sipped coffee in a downtown cafe.”If you want to be good with the government, you have to be religious.”

DEA END SMITH