Original scientific paper
NIKOLA MOSCATELLO IN THE WHIRL OF CHURCH-STATE DISPUTE AND NEW IDEOLOGIES OF USTASHISM AND COMMUNISM (1922 – 1946)
Stipe KLJAJIĆ
Abstract
Nikola Moscatello was a Croatian Catholic priest who was performing his service as a ecclesiastic-consultant (Conseilleur ecclesiastique) at Yugoslav Royal Embassy during the period from 1922 to the end of Second World War. He also continued on the same position at the embassy of new Democratic Federative Yugoslavia, but after less than
a year he resigned it because of confrontation with new communist regime in 1946. He participated in important negotiations between Italian and Yugoslav government from 1922 to 1928 concerning Croatian Institute of Saint Jerome, in order to take control over
its administration in favor of Croatian clergy. Moscatello was one of the most deserving for writing the text of the concordate and also for its signing between The Holy See and Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1935. As a secret emissary he was appointed by King Alexander
I Karadjordjevic personally for the concordate negotiations. After the outbreak of war he remained faithful to government-in-exile in London to the completion of war in 1945. During the war he dedicated himself to the humanitarian work helping the refugees from
different parts of Yugoslavia, especially those who resided on Italian territory. In his political views, he opposed the ideas of communists, ustashas, and cetniks. He was comitted to the program of Yugoslav federalism, hoping to see it applied by the pre-war old civilian
politicians instead of Yugoslav communists. Because of his anticommunist posture, he fell out with new Yugoslav experiment, so he left his position at the embassy, after twenty-four years of his diplomatic work.
Keywords
Nikola Moscatello; Royal Embassy of Yugoslavia; The Institute of Saint Jerome; concordat; the Ustasha movement; communism
Hrčak ID:
164721
URI
Publication date:
22.6.2016.
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