SENTENCE ON CARDINAL

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25732, 18 February 1949, Page 7

SENTENCE ON CARDINAL

HEARING OF APPEAL MAY BE DELAYED

REPORTED STATEMENT BY HUNGARIAN OFFICIALS

(Rec. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 16. Cardinal Mindszenty’s appeal to the Hungarian Supreme People’s Court for a reduction in his sentence of life imprisonment may not be acted on for months, according to Hungarian officials quoted by the Budapest correspondent of the British United Press. The officials added that no new negotiations had taken place between the Roman Catholic Church and the Hungarian Government since the arrest of Cardinal Mindszenty.’nor were they contemplated in the near future. Diplomats of 33 nations have expressed to the Pope their condolences on the sentence imposed on Cardinal Mindszenty. The Pone replied: “This historic audience reflects faithfully the thoughts and aspirations of the largest and most wholesome part of humanity.” From New York it is reported that Mr Henry Wallace, addressing a Labour Party meeting, said: “Certain elements in certain church groups are inciting war-breeding hatreds and hysteria. I have been concerned that certain Protestant ministers and certain Jewish rabbis should have joined so completely in the current warmongering based on the Mindszenty case. The path of Jesus is certainly to act to allay tension, not to increase it.” Mr Wallace said that one of the outstanding characteristics of American democracy had been its insistence on the complete separation of Church and State. He added: “The Roman Catholic hierarchy could contribute enormously to the cause of world peace if it would speak out now on behalf of that wholesome doctrine both in the United States and throughout the world.” Alleged Forgery of Documents A Vienna message says that Lazio and Hanna Sulner, two Hungarian handwriting experts who flew to Vienna from Budapest after the trial of Cardinal Mindszenty, have told the American authorities how they helped to forge some of the documents used in the campaign against Cardinal Mindszenty before his trial. The material purported to show that Cardinal Mindszenty was an opportunist, a domineering egotist, unpriestly, and akin to a war criminal. The Sulners said that they made the forgeries on Hungarian police instructions, and taught the forgery technique to the police, who later used it. One process involved the production of an “original” document from a photostat copy. Another allowed a perfect handwriting fdrgery to be made by the use of original bona fide letters and a special machine. The Sulners are now preparing detailed proof of their assertions for possible use by the United Nations if it decides to act.