The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1955-07-22
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us forget that this Hungarian Ca
tholic leader never should have
been ir prison in the first place"
Poinfi q out THAT the csrdin-
ais Imprisonment was Just one
OF Thousands Of crimes commit
red against humanity by the
Communists al the direction Of
ths Kremlin, the editorial dseIar.
ed that this Is THE same Krem-
lin whose leaders are posing In
Switzerland today as the great
lovers Of mankind and peace"
"The gesture can be interpret
ed" the editorial continued, "only
as another propaganda step on the
eve of the Geneva conference. 1t
costs the Communists little to be
'magnanimouS' with Cardinal
Mindszenty. They assume people
will not read between the lines or
remember the past but only say:
See, the Communists have chang.
ed their approach to religion"
Cardinal Mindszenty was arrest
ed on December 26, 1948, the feast
of st. Stephen, the first Christian
martyr. He became the first prince
of the Church in modern times to
be taken into a courtroom and
made to face farcical trial.
The Cardinal hes long been re-
ported In III health. Ne Is said
10 have been suffering from
heart complications as a result
Of . chronic thyroid condition
for which he reporfedIY under
went an operation In 1854. How
ever a recent report stated that
the Cardinals condition had
greatly improved. He was SO
years cid on March ~ this year.
Prayers for his liberation have
been offered continuously through.
out the Catholic world ever since
his Imprisonment.
Six other defendants we're tried
with Cardinal Mindszenty, Among
them was the Cardinals secretary,
Msgr. Andrew Zakar, who was
sentenced to a six-year imprison.
ment, and was released from Jail
In June 1853. He has since resum-
ed parish work In Budapest.
Cardinal Mindszenty was arrest
ed almost three years to the day
after he was made a member of
the Sacred College by His Holiness
Pope Plus XII. Although Hungary
at that time was not under com
plete communist domination, Car
dinal Mindszenty experienced con-
siderable difficulty in going to
Rome for the Consistory of Feb
ruary 18, 1916. He actually arrived
after it had begun, aboard the air
plane of an American army gen
eral.
Fifty-slx years old al the time,
Cardinal Mindsxenty had already
seen the inside Of . prison, hsv.
Ing been arrested by the naxls at
the close Of World War u. He
was sarbsd In his full episcopal
robes when no was marched off
10 prison In retaliation for his
determined stand against naxisn,.
In l947, the Cardinal visited the
United States and Canada. On his
return home the Red propagands
campaign against him sharpened.
When Red inducements failed
to silence his outspoken criticism
especially of the government
plan to nationalize the schools, thu
communists decided to arrest him
What followed afterwsrd --
ths drugs used 10 break his iron
will, the intsrnninabie question.
lnss 70 force . Confession"
from, him, and finally the trial"
whi.h hes since become . classic
example OF communist Justice"
remains today one of fhs most
notorious chapters In The history
OF modern communism.
Three other Cardinals are KEEP
from exercising their offices b,
communist regimes. They ar,
Thomas Cardinal Tien, Archbishop
of Peking, China, who is now il
exile In the U.s.; Aloysius Cardina
Stepinac, Archbishop of Zagreh
Yugoslavia, who is confined TO hi
native village of Krasic by the Tit
regime, and Stefan Cardinal Wys
rynski, Primate of Poland, who
being kept under arrest by tn
Warsaw regime.