the Yugoslav government in exile, and postwar recognized the new Yugoslav government). The Catholic press in the NDH also maintained its support of Pavelić right to the end. Ivo Goldstein notes Stepinac's protests against Ustaše crimes, yet states that Stepinac's biggest failure was his public support for the criminal NDH, from its first dayt to its last - he celebrated the coming of the Ustaše to power, held Te Deums on the anniversaries of the NDH (even on April 10, 1945), on numerous occasions he was photographed with Pavelić and other Ustaše officials, all of which provided legitimacy to Ustaše regime, allowing it to maintain power and commit crimes. The Ustaše ignored Stepinac's private criticisms, while only a relatively small number of people heard his few public criticisms. On the other hand, countless people saw and read about Stepinac's public support for the NDH. Furthermore, Stepinac expressed much of his criticisms only after the Ustaše had already committed most of their genocidal crimes. Biondich concludes that claims that Stepinac was an Ustaše sympathiser, and even the spiritual leader of the regime are unfounded. He further states that while Stepinac supported independence, he "began privately to distance himself from the regime within weeks, and certainly within months of the Croatian state's formation." He also observes that while Stepinac continued to attend to his ceremonial duties at official state events, he was privately raising his concerns with the Ustaše leaders. However Biondich also states that Stepinac was not the outspoken critic of the Ustaše regime that many of his defenders claim. On the other hand, historian Robert McCormick states, "for all the Archbishop's hand wringing, he continued to be a tacit participant in the Independent State of Croatia (ISC). He repeatedly appeared in public with the Poglavnik (the Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić), and issued Te Deum's on the anniversary of the NDH's creation. His failure to publicly denounce the Ustaše's atrocities in the name of the NDH, was tantamount to accepting Pavelić's policies". On 10 April 1945, Stepinac held a mass in the Zagreb Cathedral for the 4th anniversary of the NDH's founding, and Te Deum's were sung for what was left of the Ustaše state. Richard West writes that, on 15 April, as Pavelić and other Ustaše leaders were getting ready to flee, "Archbishop Stepinac devoted his sermon to what he believed was Croatia's worst sin, not mass murder, but swearing."