DEMONSTRATION BY ROME CATHOLICS

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 February 1949, Page 5

DEMONSTRATION BY ROME CATHOLICS

Pope Again Denounces Mindszenty Trial VATICAN CITY, Feb. 20. Thousands of Catholics flocked to St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City for the | mass demonstration called by ' the Pope against the sentence passed on Cardinal Mindszenty. Streets leading to St. Peter’s were jammed with a solid mass of people. Catholic Action groups of the Rome diocese formed parades in the centre of Rome and marched singing along a mile and a-halt route to St. Peter'sYoung men in groups carried flags and cardboard posters. Typical slogans were: “The Chains of Cardinal Mindszenty are Jewels in the Crown of St. Peter’' and “The Chains of Mindszenty Shine Like the Crown of Christ.”

The Pope, speaking from a specially erected altar, told lhe demonstrators: "The sentence passed on the Danube on 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 doctrine of the Christian Church. "Persecutors, as never before, are using the progress of science to exterminatee not only their chosen victims but also those who are defending their homeland and human society.”

The Pope’s speech was broadcast throughout the world by Vatican Radio. It was preceded by Pontifical Mass in St. Peter's, celebrated by the Pope himself,’ with another High Mass sung at a temporary altar on the cathedral steps.

Many of the 250,000 crowd which overflowed the square had waited for hours to hear the Pope.