to escape and criticized Ustaše atrocities in front of Zagreb Cathedral in 1943. Despite this, Stepinac never broke with the Ustaše regime and continued to attend public gatherings at their side. After the invasion and Italian annexation of much of the Dalmatian coast, the ecclesiastical province of the Zagreb archbishopric included the Archdiocese of Zagreb, as well as the dioceses of Đakovo and Senj-Modruš, and the Greek Catholic Bishopric of Križevci. Stepinac had very limited formal authority over the suffragan bishops of his province, being more of a "first among equals" than a superior. Biondich states that Stepinac did not have the power to dictate policy or control the behaviour of the Sarajevo-based Archbishop of Vrhbosna, Ivan Šarić, or the other bishops in the NDH. Yet Goldstein notes that Stepinac communicated with Sarajevo Archbishop Ivan Šarić, but apparently never even privately condemned his public support for the Ustaše genocides, unlike the Croatian Peasant Party members in London who vehemently condemned Šarić. By the end of Summer 1941, Ante Pavelić publicly blamed the irregular "Wild Ustashe" (some 25,000-30,000 of them, including many criminal elements) for all the atrocities performed by the Ustashe in the previous months. The state authorities never paid members of "Wild Ustashe", nor acknowledged them to be in the military service, though government-controlled press and Ustashe officials in former months clearly encouraged those aggressive but undisciplined groups to go against the "enemy elements", as the regime needed the manpower to execute ethnic cleansing and genocide within the NDH. Some members of that irregular part of the Ustashe Militia were arrested, tried and executed for the crimes against Serbs and Gypsies. This was done to convey a message to the rest of the "Wild Ustashe" to become part of the Ustashe hierarchy through regimentation. Persecution against Serbs, Jews and Roma persisted, however. Relations with the government The historian, Jozo Tomasevich, states that the NDH regime unleashed genocidal policies against Jews, Serbs and Roma, while also subjecting Croats to the greatest repression they experienced in their history. According to John Fine, Stepinac enjoyed close associations with the Ustaše leaders, as he was the archbishop of the capital. During the war Stepinac personally celebrated Te Deums on the anniversary of the founding of the NDH, including on April 10., 1945. Stepinac served as the military Vicar of the NDH army throughout the war. He appeared in photographs numerous times in Ustaše