Whatever
Budapest
Wants
By Prof. Plinio Corręa de
Oliveira (*)
On the basis of the memoirs of Cardinal Mindszenty published in The Sunday Telegraph, I wrote
last Sunday about the simultaneous moves of Paul VI and Nixon, carried out
according to the imperative desire of the Communist government of Budapest, in
order to uproot the glorious Prelate from Hungarian soil. I described the
sinuous negotiations whereby the Vatican reached
an agreement with the Prelate, his journey to Rome, the warm reception which
Paul VI gave him, and the first blow that he received from the semi-official
paper of the same Paul VI. Now we will continue this narrative, which is so
crushing to one who, like myself, loves the Vatican from the
very depths of his soul.
Paul VI wanted Cardinal Mindszenty
to concelebrate Mass with him before going on to Vienna. At the end of that Mass,
he gave him, "as a symbol of love and respect," the Cardinal's cape
which he used before becoming Pope. He promised him support, saying in Latin:
"Thou art and shall continue to be the Archbishop of Esztergom
and the Primate of Hungary. Keep on working, if thou hast any difficulty, always turn back confidently to us." Afterwards . . .
In Vienna,
Cardinal Mindszenty began his normal activities,
which he summarizes like this: "the pastoral care of hundreds of thousands
of Hungarians in exile; warning the people of the world against the danger of
Bolshevism, by the publication of my memoirs; and whenever possible, taking a
personal interest in the tragic fate of the Hungarian nation." Then the
persecution began:
(1) Cardinal Mindszenty
asked that the faculty to indicate priests for the Hungarian communities
outside of Hungary
be returned to him. The result, bitter disappointment.
The Cardinal comments: The request was refused by the Vatican in order
not "to annoy the regime of Budapest."
(2) For the same purpose of not "annoying the
regime of Budapest,"
the Holy See went ahead and decreed that all the public declarations of the
great Prelate must be submitted to an adviser indicated by Rome. Cardinal Mindszenty came back sharply that he would submit them "only
to the Holy Father when he explicitly asked for them."
(3) As a help for the moves of Rome, the Magyar Bishops, named
by Paul VI but entirely subject to the Hungarian government, began to multiply
protests to the Holy See against the anti-communist activities of Cardinal Mindszenty.
Then a surprise bomb exploded.
The apostolic nunciature in Vienna informed Cardinal Mindszenty that during the negotiations in 1971 the Holy
See had given guarantees to the Hungarian government that, once freed, his
Eminence would say nothing that could be inconvenient for Budapest.
This guarantee, given unbeknown to the Cardinal,
violated that which was most essential in the agreement being negotiated
between him and the Vatican
at that time.
By making such a concession to the Hungarian
government, Paul VI employed the authority conferred by Our Lord Jesus Christ
on St. Peter, in order to force the Cardinal not to oppose the plans of
Communist imperialism. The keys of Peter functioning according to the desires
of implacable atheist persecutors of religion: What is this, if not a bomb,
probably the greatest bomb in the History of the Church, from Pentecost up to
our day?
(4) Immediately thereafter, the directives of the
Hungarian government began to make themselves felt through the Vatican. In Portugal, a
discourse was being printed for the Cardinal to read at Fatima.
Emissaries of the apostolic nunciature in Lisbon intervened at the printers
in order — without the Cardinal knowing about it — to suppress a passage in
which he was alerting the Catholics of the world against the policy of smiles
for the Communists.
(5) The worst was yet to come. Sometime later, Paul VI
wrote to Cardinal Mindszenty, asking him to resign
from his Archdiocese. The Cardinal refused. Paul VI deposed him. And then, a
particularly bitter touch; the letter was handed over to the Cardinal precisely
on the day that he was commemorating the 25th anniversary of his glorious
imprisonment by the Communists.
The drama was ended. All during its course, from the
beginning to the end, the conduct of the Vicar of Christ was what Communist
imperialism desired, that is, what the antichrist desired.
Commentary? — What
for?
Only one remark: Since in its essence the
"detente" of Paul VI is like this, obviously it must be the same in
other countries, all over the world, . . . and in the United States.
(*)
Reproduced from “Folha de S. Pauloo”, 20th October 1974.