October the 13th, 2026 – A minor said she was physically abused by a Croatian priest in 2021, yet Bozanić allegedly failed to ever report him.
Index has reported that the Zagreb Archdiocese reported a priest accused of abusing a minor to the police allegedly only five years after receiving the complaint. This occurred only after Dnevnik.hr sent an inquiry about the case. A minor female person accused the priest of abuse back in 2021. The Archdiocese submitted the report to the Zagreb police only on the 9th of October this year, two days after Dnevnik.hr sent them an inquiry about the entire case. They have refused to answer any further questions about the case.
Zagreb police confirmed their receipt of the report. “The police received a report from a church legal entity, following which it has begun a criminal investigation,” they stated in their response. They added that, in accordance with the law, the inquiries are confidential and that they cannot disclose any specific details. According to unofficial information, after the 2021 complaint the priest was relieved of his duties as administrator of one Zagreb parish and banned from public activity. The Archdiocese then appointed a new administrator. It seemed that the priest had indeed been withdrawn from public life for several years.
the case should have been reported immediately – it was not
However, by decision of Archbishop Dražen Kutleša in September 2024 he was appointed parish vicar in one parish, and in August this year as a chaplain in an institution on the territory of the Zagreb Archdiocese. It is interesting that neither the decision on his relief from duties in 2021 nor the later appointments were published in the annual reviews of appointments and dismissals of priests in the Archdiocese. Information about his new duties was found in the parish’s posts on social networks and in the media. The case arose during the term of Cardinal Josip Bozanić, who was Archbishop of Zagreb from 1997 until April 2023, when he was succeeded by Dražen Kutleša.
One priest, who wished to remain anonymous, explained that Bozanić should have been the first to report the case to the police. Since he did not do so, the obligation was taken over by Kutleša, because the new archbishop is at the beginning of his term informed about all open cases, especially accusations of abuse of minors.
whether or not the vatican has been notified is unknown
The guidelines of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference for the protection of minors oblige reporting to the competent state authorities. They state that the church authority, when it receives a report, must inform the victim or parents that they are obliged to report everything to the state authorities. If, after a preliminary investigation it is established that the accusation is credible, the church authority has the obligation to forward the report to the state authorities. Given that the Archdiocese ultimately did submit a report, this suggests that it considers the accusations credible.
According to church laws, the Archbishop of Zagreb, after the preliminary investigation, should also have informed the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith about everything. It is not known whether Bozanić or Kutleša did so. Independently of church regulations, according to Croatian laws everyone is obliged to report suspicion of a criminal offence.
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