This doctoral thesis analyzes articles published in the Commentary section of the Catholic (bi)weekly newspaper Glas Koncila from the appearance of the section in 1968 until the end of 2014 with the aim to research its role in the promotion of the freedom of speech and the democratization of the Croatian society both during the Communist era and after the democratic changes. In the first, theoretical part of the dissertation, the historical (sociopolitical and media) context of the second half of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century in Croatia was analyzed based on two theories of the press: The Soviet-Communist and Social Responsibility Theory. The concepts of the freedom of speech and democratization are explained as well as their media context. Also, this part provides a basic overview of the Roman Catholic Church's relationship with the media, the emergence and functioning of Glas Koncila as well as the specificity of the Commentary section (with the interpretation of the commentary as a journalistic form). The second, research part presents the results of a quantitative content analysis on a sample of 600 articles published in the Commentary section (300 from the Communist era and 300 from the period of democracy). Additionally, 365 commentaries on ten essential historical issues (re-establishing diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1970; the Croatian Spring movement; the adoption of the new Federal Constitution in 1974; the celebration of the Thirteen Centuries of Christianity among the Croats; the Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the strengthening of the Greater Serbia politics in the 1980s; the first multiparty elections and Croatia’s disassociation from the Yugoslav Federation; the Homeland War; the transformation and privatization of the Croatian economy; the death of Dr. Franjo Tuđman, the first Croatian President, and the change of government in 2000; and the process of Croatia's accession to the European Union) were further analysed. The research led to the conclusion that the commentators of Glas Koncila did not deal only with religious but also with sociopolitical issues; that in the commentaries of Glas Koncila the freedom of speech was promoted; that in most of analysed texts from 1990 to 2014, Glas Koncila promoted the implementation of democratic principles in the Croatian society; and that the articles published in the Commentary section promoted pluralism.