NAZI CHALLENGE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20284, 6 December 1935, Page 13

NAZI CHALLENGE

PROSECUTION OF CATHOLIC United Press Association—By Electrlo Telegraph—Copyright BERLIN, December 2. The Vatican has ordered Dr Legge to go to Rome and report on his own case, also cn the arrest of Monsignor Banasch, and other arrests of Catholic prelates and the attitude of the Nazi authorities to the church generally. [A previous message stated:—Dr Peter Legge, Bishop of Meissen, was fined £B,OOO for violating the currency law by smuggling out money from Germany; £3,200 of the fine was remitted, as he awaited a month for trial. If the remainder is not paid he will be imprisoned for three months. The bishop’s brother Theodore was sentenced to five years’ penal servitude and' fined £5,600 for complicity, and Dr Soppa, the bishop’s vicar-general, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and fined £5,600. Monsignor Branaseh has been imprisoned and charged with high treason. The indictment alleged that he was engaged in collecting material relating to incidents between Catholic Church dignitaries and officials and Nazi authorities. Prominent Catholics who are taking up the defence say that Banasch acted solely on the instructions of his superiors in the interests of the church.]