Croatian Catholic movement

Croatian Catholic movement (HKP) is a form of political Catholicism) which was active in the first half of the 20th century in Croatia. The movement was a response to increasing liberalism, with a new, aggressive approach, as the Church and religion lost influence.

The movement began with First Croatian Catholic meeting in Zagreb in 1900, which were initiated by similar motions in Europe and by the impulses of the popes Leo XIII and Pius X. By the conclusion of the meeting, Croatian Catholic publishing society were established, which ran the Catholic newspaper Hrvatstvo in Zagreb 1904. Meanwhile, Dr Antun Mahnić (1850–1920), bishop of Krk, started a magazine for Christian philosophy called Hrvatska straža.At the same time he founded student Catholic magazines and societies all over the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. One of them was the academic club "Domagoj" in Zagreb (founded 1906). The organ of student societies was Luč (published from 1905), whose editor was Dr Ljubomir Maraković.

Later Mahnić started the Pius society, which published the weekly newspaper Jutro. There were some struggles between the group around Hrvatstvo, who founded new political party, and the group around Jutro. The crucial year for the Movement was 1910, when Croatian Catholic peoples union established and Hrvatstvo with its party disappeared. In the same year the Croatian Catholic student union were founded, as the corporate body of all student associations. HKP became stronger and soon was run by new leadership – Croatian Catholic seniority (HKS), an exclusive organization of Catholic clerical and lay intellectual circles (1912).

The goal of HKP was defending and promoting Catholic faith and its moral principles in Croatian public and social life, which were endangered by rapid liberalism and secularism. Also, the most important issue was gathering and spiritual and intellectual education of the youth. Till the beginning of the First World War, HKP had about 5 000 members in different kinds of basic societies in cities and villages.

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