Fires occurred at the churches in New York, Melbourne, Sydney and in Russia during the Orthodox Easter last month.

Officials fear the fires may have been started in retaliation for Orthodox efforts to block the canonisation of Croatian Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac.

The cardinal supported parts of a puppet Nazi regime, the Ustashe, in Croatia in World War II.

The regime persecuted Serbs and Jews and also forced Orthodox Christians to convert to Catholicism.

In the 1990s, Vatican offices and Stepinac's defenders in Croatia produced evidence that the archbishop criticsed the excesses of the Ustashe as early as 1941, and that he personally intervened to save the lives of a number of Jews.

But his criticisms were seen as muted.

After the war, Stepinac spent five years in prison and the rest of his life under house arrest in the small village of Krasic, his birthplace. He died in 1960.

In 1998, Pope John Paul II beatified him.

Cardinal Stepanic's possible canonisation is a point of dispute between Croatia and Serbia, with leaders of both nations lobbying Pope Francis.

Serbian Othordox Patriarch Irinej wrote to Pope Francis and said: "We are afraid that there are too many open questions and wounds which Cardinal Stepinac symbolises."

"His canonisation, to our great regret, would return the relations between Serbs and Croats, as well as between Catholics and Orthodox faithful, back to their tragic history."

Dusan Batakovic, a former Serbian ambassador, told US media: "Too many churches have burned to call it an accident.

"It is very strange that it happened, that the fires all took place on Easter, the greatest Christian Orthodox holiday. Some kind of terrorist action cannot be excluded."

Authorities in Melbourne initially deemed the church fire there to be not suspicious, and the fire at an Orthodox cathedral in New York may have been caused by candles left burning at Easter.

The displaced Orthodox congregation in Sydney has received support from nearby Catholic and Uniting churches, which have offered their buildings for services.

Sources

• Daily Mail
• New York Post
• The Guardian
• Sydney Morning Herald
• New York Post
• Chicago Tribune
• Image: New York Post

Fr Josip Vranjies, 55, is believed to have used a network of powerful figures within the Croatian Catholic Church and Croatian government to help in his case.

The priest has served at the Croation Catholic Centre in Sunshine in Melbourne's west for six years since his conviction.

But the Archdiocese of Melbourne says he is technically the responsibility of the Archbishop of Vrhbosna in Sarajevo.

This is despite the Melbourne archdiocese owning the Croation Centre church.

Fr Vranjies was charged with reckless driving offences in 2003 after he was found to be intoxicated and speeding at twice the legal limit when he lost control of a sports car in Croatia.

The priest's rented vehicle collided with another car, resulting in the death of the other driver, Anton Peha, 48, and serious injuries to Mr Peha's teenage son.

The case took almost five years to come to trial and Fr Vranjies was found guilty and sentenced to 10 months' prison, suspended for three years.

Fr Vranjies appealed his sentence in October, 2010. It is yet to be finalised.

The appeal trial confirmed that alcohol and speed were involved, but may not have caused the crash.

Fr Vranjies asked a local priest to approach the widow of Mr Peha, Ljiljana, and appeal for forgiveness, but she rejected the entreaties.

Another Croatian Catholic priest who had ministered in Melbourne, Fr Mato Krizanac, is said to have used his influence with Croatian authorities to assist Fr Vranjies.

Fr Krizanac was stripped of all clerical duties by Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne in June for sexual impropriety involving a teenage girl.

When approached by The Sunday Age, Fr Vranjes said: "It's all in Croatia. I am free. That's all that matters."

Fr Vranjes has also been accused of living a lavish lifestyle and of financial impropriety by parishioners of a Melbourne centre.

Sources

• The Sunday Age
• Image: The Age

"Peace in our homeland is at stake," declared Archbishop Josip Bozanic of Zagreb as opponents of the curriculum change claim it will promote pornography, promiscuity and homosexuality.

Deputy Bishop Valentin Poziac compared the authorities to Nazis and even called for the overthrow of the "communist" government.

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