“Cardinal Franjo eper was a pastor who knew how to read the signs of the time. Very conscious of the situation in which the Church had to live under the Communist regime, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, the Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, he did not give way to despair, but tried to come to terms with the situation: the Church, he was convinced, had to live, bear witness to and preach the Gospel even in those difficult and hostile circumstances”. That’s how Father Zeljko Tanjic, professor of fundamental theology at the University of Zagreb, described the life and work of Cardinal eper, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1968-1981). The cardinal’s achievements are commemorated in the book eper. Veritatem facientes in caritate, edited by Tanjic himself and presented in the Vatican on 6 November. The book contains the proceedings of the international Symposium, held on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Cardinal eper’s death. “Cardinal eper said Father Tanjic is remembered for some decisions that still today continue to produce fruit in Croatia and Bosnia: the ‘Week for Priests’, a course of permanent formation for the clergy that annually brings together some 500 priests from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the Voice of the Council, the highest-selling and most widely read Catholic weekly in Croatia today”. Nor should we forget the foundation of ‘Christian Actuality’, “a centre for conciliar research that played an important role in the diffusion of the ideas of the Council, and that saw him personally involved in the life of the Church, in the relation between Church and society, and in Christian-Marxist dialogue. Franjo eper was a man who lived according to the truth in charity and in humility”. The meeting formed part of the events planned as part of the national Croatian pilgrimage to Rome as a sign of thanksgiving for the Pope’s apostolic journey to Croatia (5-9 June) and as an expression of the participation of the Croatian community in the celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of his pontificate. Some 10,000 faithful, led by the president of the Croatian Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Josip Bozanic, archbishop of Zagreb, took part in the pilgrimage.
