A nun from the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in Zagreb is recovering in the hospital after being stabbed several times last Friday in an attack that, according to initial reports, may have had a religious component. The Croatian police have opened a criminal investigation, and the Church confirmed that the sister is stable and out of danger.
The attack and the rapid medical intervention
The events occurred on November 28 in the Malešnica residential district in the Croatian capital. According to the congregation's statement, the nun was wounded in the abdomen with a sharp object and, despite the severity of the moment, managed to return to the convent on her own before being urgently transferred to the Sisters of Charity University Hospital. Medical services received her around 3:00 p.m., diagnosing an abdominal wall wound that, although serious, did not put her life at risk.
Witnesses reported that the sister arrived accompanied by a known person, which helped speed up her care. The doctors indicated that her progress is favorable and that full recovery is expected.
A possible religious motive under investigation
Local media have disseminated testimonies pointing to the attacker possibly shouting religious expressions, including the Arabic phrase “Allahu akbar”, although these details have not been officially verified. The journalist Marin Vlahović, who broke the news of the incident, stated that he had received reliable information indicating that the victim was a nun and that the attack was accompanied by shouts with religious content.
The Croatian police are keeping the investigation open and have not yet confirmed the motive for the attack. Both the Catholic Information Agency and the Catholic Religious Network reported that investigators are examining whether there were “elements of religious or ideological motivation”.
A young nun well-known in Croatia
The victim was identified as Sister Marija Tatjana Zrno, 34 years old, from Šujica. She is a religion teacher at a primary school in Zagreb and is known in pastoral circles for her closeness to young people and her fondness for football. Her name gained notoriety during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, when ACI Prensa and Catholic News Agency published an interview in which she spoke about spiritual life using sports parallels.
In that conversation, she described inner life as an “epic battle” that requires the same effort and discipline as high-performance sports. She insisted that both in sports and in prayer, it is precisely in the tough moments when growth is decided: “In sports, you train when you feel you can't, and in spiritual life, you pray more when it seems you can do less”. For her, that limit point is what distinguishes those who reach their potential from those who do not.
The investigation continues
As the police investigation progresses, the leaders of the Croatian Church have asked the faithful to pray for the prompt recovery of Sister Marija Tatjana Zrno, while the authorities work to clarify the motive for the attack and confirm whether it had a religious or ideological motivation.