At times, he is said to have even been considered as a candidate for the episcopate, reports the news portal "Dnevnik.hr" on Tuesday.
Accordingly, leading Croatian bishops supported the clergy for years and entrusted him with important tasks within the Episcopal Conference.
The allegations concern the alleged sexual abuse of a then 16-year-old seminarian in Zagreb in the early 2000s.
The chairman of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference (HBK), Archbishop Dražen Kutleša, had already been informed of the allegations of abuse in June 2022, according to the portal.
Nevertheless, in early 2023, under his chairmanship, the Bishops’ Conference extended the mandate of the accused priest in the Commission for Catholic Schools for another five years.
Possible bishop candidate
Despite the allegations of abuse, the then bishop of Požega, Antun Škvorčević, also appointed the accused priest as cathedral chaplain – although he is said to have learned of the allegations years earlier.
In addition, the clergyman is said to have been acted as a possible candidate for the episcopate.
Already in 2018, the former Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, warned the then Vatican Congregation for the Bishops of a possible appointment.
Schönborn had personally learned of the allegations, according to the report, through the alleged abuse sufferer.
A Vatican investigation launched in February 2023 eventually classified the allegations of abuse as credible.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith then ordered a church procedure. A decision is pending so far.
According to the Croatian Bishops' Conference, the proceedings were suspended at the express request of the police in order not to jeopardize the state investigation.
Despite the ongoing Vatican investigation, the incumbent Bishop of Požega, Ivo Martinović, appointed the accused clergyman as a pastor in August 2025. It was only a year later that he was relieved of this task after the case caused a stir in public.