ROME DEMONSTRATION AGAINST SENTENCE ON HUNGARIAN CARDINAL

Grey River Argus, 22 February 1949, Page 5

ROME DEMONSTRATION AGAINST SENTENCE ON HUNGARIAN CARDINAL

VATICAN CITY, Feb 20.

Thousands of Catholics flocked to Saint Peter’s Square, in Vatican City for a mass demontration called by the Pope, against the sentence passed on Cardinal Min■dszenty. The streets leading to Saint Peter’s were jammed with a seffid mass of people. Catholic Action groups of the... Rome diocese formed parades in the centre of Rome and marched singing along the mile and a half route to St. Peter’s.

Young men in groups carried flags and cardboard posters. Typical slogans were “The chains of Cardinal Mindszenty are jewels in the crown of Saint Peter’s.” “The chains of Cardinal Mindszenty shine like the Crown of Christ.” An address was given by Pope Pius XII. which was broadcast throughout the world by the Vatican radio. It was preceded by Pontiflcial Mass in Saint Peter’s, celebrated by the Pope himself, with another High Mass sung at a temporary altar on the cathedral steps. Many of the crowd of 250,00 b, which overflowed the square, had waited for hours to hear the Pope,

THE POPE’S ADDRESS The Pope, speaking from a special-ly-erected altar, told the demonstrators: “The sentence passed on the Danube of an eminent Cardinal of the Christian world has evoked on the Tiber river a cry of indignation worthy of the centre of Christianity. The sentence of the Cardinal is not an isolated case, but is an incident in a chain of acts directed against the detrine of the Christian Church. He said: “The persecutors, as never before, are using the, progress of science to exterminate not only their chosen victims, but also those who are defending their homeland, and human society.” t ___ ______