committed by the Ustaše. He said, "The Croatian nation has been proud of its 1000-year-old culture and Christian tradition. That is why we wait for it to show in practice, now that it has achieved its freedom, a greater nobility and humanity than that displayed by its former rulers". Tomasevich notes that Stepinac never made this letter public, e.g. in the form of a pastoral letter, which could have had a beneficial effect on restraining Ustaše crimes. In fact Tomasevich writes that neither Stepinac, nor anyone else in the Church hierarchy ever uttered one word of public protest against Ustaše crimes against Serbs, by far the most numerous victims of NDH genocidal policies. In December 1941, Pavelić met with the Italian foreign minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, and told him that the lower levels of Catholic clergy displayed a very positive attitude towards the Ustaše regime, but that some of the bishops were openly hostile to the government. Also in December, Stepinac declared membership in Catholic Action and in the Ustaše to be incompatible. Cornwell states that Stepinac was "wholly in accord with the general goals of the new Croatian state". Tomasevich states that the Catholic Church fully supported Ustaše policies, and failed to publicly condemn crimes against Serbs. Many priests and well-known Catholic laymen openly sided with the Ustaše, assumed responsible positions in the NDH, while the Catholic press praised the Pavelić regime. On more than one occasion, the archbishop proclaimed his support for the Independent State of Croatia and welcomed the demise of Yugoslavia On 10 April each year during the war he celebrated a mass to celebrate proclamation of the NDH. In June 1945 the Papal legate to the NDH, Marcone, related to a British officer in Zagreb that the Croatian Catholic Church during the war “tended to identify itself too closely with the Ustaše“, because (1) many Croat priests were passionate believers in Croatia's independence, thus they were tempted to turn a blind eye on Ustaše atrocities, and (2) they were drawn to leading Ustaše because they were devout Catholics, including the worst criminals like Pavelić, Rukavina and Luburić. In May, 1943, Stepinac sent a report to the Papal secretary of state, on the attitude of the Catholic Church in Croatia towards the Ustaše regime. Responding to criticisms that the Church had not done enough to oppose Ustaše crimes, Stepinac enumerated the main benefits the Church received