Editing Croats (section)

==Religion==
{{more citations needed section|date=September 2018}}
{{main|Catholic Church in Croatia}}
{{See also|Slavic Native Faith#Southern and Western Slavic nations}}
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|image1 = Stepinac.jpg
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|alt1 = Alojzije Stepinac
|caption1 = [[Aloysius Stepinac|Alojzije Stepinac]]
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Croats are predominantly [[Roman Catholic]]s of the [[Latin Church|Latin Rite]]. Before their christianization, they adhered to [[Slavic paganism]] or [[Roman paganism]]. The earliest record of contact between the [[Pope]] and the Croats dates from a mid-7th century entry in the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]''. [[Pope John IV]] (John the Dalmatian, 640–642) sent an [[abbot]] named Martin to [[Dalmatia]] and [[Istria]] in order to pay ransom for some prisoners and for the [[relics]] of old Christian martyrs. This abbot is recorded to have travelled through Dalmatia with the help of the Croatian leaders, and he established the foundation for future relations between the Pope and the Croats.

The beginnings of the [[Christianization]] are also disputed in the historical texts: the Byzantine texts talk of Duke Porin who started this at the incentive of Emperor [[Heraclius]] (610–641), then of Duke Porga who mainly Christianized his people after the influence of missionaries from Rome. However, it can be reliably said that the Christianization of Croats began in the 7th century, initially probably encompassed only the elite and related people,{{sfn|Budak|2018|pp=144–145}} but mostly completed by the 9th century.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ivandija |first=Antun |title=Pokrštenje Hrvata prema najnovijim znanstvenim rezultatima |trans-title=Christianization of Croats according to the most recent scientific results |url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=64623&lang=en |journal=Bogoslovska smotra |publisher=University of Zagreb, Catholic Faculty of Theology |volume=37 |issue=3–4 |pages=440–444 |date=April 1968 |issn=0352-3101 |language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Živković|first=Tibor|author-link=Tibor Živković|title=On the Baptism of the Serbs and Croats in the Time of Basil I (867–886)|journal=Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana|year=2013a|issue=1|pages=33–53|url=http://slavica-petropolitana.spbu.ru/files/2013_1/Zivkovic.pdf}}</ref> The earliest known Croatian autographs from the 8th century are found in the Latin [[Gospel of Cividale]].{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}

Croats were never obliged to use Latin—rather, they held [[mass (liturgy)|mass]]es in their own language and used the Glagolitic alphabet.<ref>"The right to use the Glagolitic language at Mass with the Roman Rite has prevailed for many centuries in all the south-western Balkan countries, and has been sanctioned by long practice and by many popes" ([http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04606b.htm ''Dalmatia''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171834/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04606b.htm |date=3 March 2016 }} in Catholic Encyclopedia)</ref> In 1886 it arrived to the [[Principality of Montenegro]], followed by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1914, and the [[History of Czechoslovakia (1918-38)|Republic of Czechoslovakia]] in 1920, but only for feast days of the main patron saints. The 1935 concordat with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia anticipated the introduction of the Church Slavonic for all Croatian regions and throughout the entire state.<ref>Marko Japundzić. [http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/japun.html ''The Croatian Glagolitic Heritage''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810032902/http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/japun.html |date=10 August 2007 }}, croatianhistory.net; accessed 25 November 2015.</ref>

Smaller groups of Croats adhere to other religions, like [[Eastern Orthodoxy in Croatia|Eastern Orthodoxy]] (especially in [[Žumberak]]), [[Protestantism]] and [[Croat Muslims|Islam]]. According to an official population census of Croatia by ethnicity and religion, roughly 16,600 ethnic Croats adhered to Orthodoxy, roughly 8,000 were Protestants, roughly 10,500 described themselves as "other" Christians, and roughly 9,600 were followers of Islam.<ref name="census2011-ethnorelig">{{Croatian Census 2011 | url = http://www.dzs.hr/Eng/censuses/census2011/results/htm/E01_01_12/E01_01_12.html | title = 4. Population by ethnicity and religion | access-date = 2012-12-17}}</ref>

{{Croatian saints}}