OCR
KeAsNoe5e for December 1°52. REPORT FROM HUNGARY, SF Oe OE ee ES EE ee eT ee SP UE ES a ES ee New wave of relircious versecutions. Since the trial of Archbishop CGroesz, there wes much less talk abéut Church resistance in Hungary, Communistic authorities even tried to make believe thet the Chureh - freed of its undemocratic leaders, Cardinal Mindszenty and Arehbishop Groesz - was willing to cooperate with the regime, This policy went so far as to send fake telegrams in the neme of Archbishop Czapik and Bishop Hamvas to Paris, requesting the liberation of communist leader Duelos. This heppened on the 3lst of Mey, “Intelligence Digest" at the time gave the inside story of thet cheat. Only ea month leter - in the last days of June - the Party Certral Committee held a twe-days' meeting, in view of re-evaluating the ideological directives of the Party line, The main speaker was the member of the Central Committee ard the rising star in Party ideology, Marton Horvath, The main theme of his talk wes a strong warning against a tendency of self+satisfaction and relaxation pres vailing in the Party. This esrnecially in face of a "clerical reaction’ that had succeeded in regeining powerfvl influence. He warned especially against the elerical activity that leid to undermining the morale and discipline of workers, of women and of children eee The impact of this sveech covld be seen immediathhy along three lines: a violent press campaign against the Church, tontkerkimk personal threats and measures against individual priests, a policy of eliminating the clergy and the religious communitics as suche = The press campaign has not ceased since. At the time of the harvest, for example, as forced requisitioning ercated a great deal of unrest and opposition, the difficulties were blamed on both the "kulaks" and the “elerieal reaction", Any other similar occasion is used, to work up the same theme. Individual priests were aecneed and severly pungshed for having helped workers and their families, esrecially minersj for havin instructed children in the faith; for having "sabotaged" the country's, economic effort, by inducing people to attend church serviceginstead of advisine them to work on Sundays; for not using the confessional or the sermon to advise the faithful into entering the kolkhose or participating in some other way in the country's “socialist res construction". This observer hes seen long lists of parish priests, thus accused, ill-treated, omprisonned and denorted as a consequence. Only one exemple: At the end of Sentember, Father Imre Somorjai was sentenced to five years emprisomment for having given private religious instruction to chiléren in sm Csillaghegy. The fathers of the children - Istvan Mocsári, Janos Pogaes, Peter Letai - were dock and textile workerse They themselves and their wives were sentenced to 24 years prison, for having admitted the priest to their homes and paired allowed such “harmful influence" to be exercised on their chad. e ene 48 .