Roman Catholics: Easing Out Mindszenty

Few men alive have suffered more for their God and their convictions than Josef Cardinal Mindszenty. 71. Archbishop of Esztergom and Roman Catholic Primate of Hungary. During World War II, he was jailed by the Nazis for protesting against the roundup of Hungary’s Jews. After the war. he fought the Communist takeover of his country, and in 1949 was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment on trumped-up charges of treason, espionage and black marketing. The Western world bled for the gaunt, tortured prelate, mechanically confessing his guilt for nonexistent crimes before an unfeeling judge. Briefly freed by the 1956 Hungarian uprising, Mindszenty fled to the U.S. legation in Budapest, and there he has stayed, a stubborn symbol of Christianity’s incompatibility with Communism.

Mindszenty has willingly, even eagerly, accepted the sacrifices demanded of him by his faith. Now he is being asked to make one more: to give up his exile, at the request of the Pope.

“Active Neutrality.” Getting Mindszenty out of Hungary is the next major tactic in Pope John XXIII’s strategy of making Roman Catholicism “actively neutral” in the cold war. John believes that his goal of world peace is compromised by such symbols of intransigence as Mindszenty—and the Hungarians have pointedly hinted to the Vatican that they want Mindszenty out. Accordingly, Franziskus Cardinal König of Vienna, a skilled, diplomatic archbishop whom the Pope has used on other delicate missions, is arranging to visit Budapest, possibly within a month. He will gently inform Mindszenty that the Pope wants him to leave, and. if Mindszenty agrees, may escort him to the Austrian border and freedom.

The Hungarian Communists would like Mindszenty to ask for amnesty—a face-losing gesture that neither the cardinal nor the Vatican is inclined to make. Church officials would like the Hungarians to offer Mindszenty a pardon and restore him briefly to his primatial see—but the Hungarians have evidently refused. Thus the Vatican will probably settle for having Mindszenty slip out and stay out. the formula used with Ukrainian Archbishop Josyf Slipyi when he was released last February from Soviet custody.

Three Black Sedans. The pawn of these delicate negotiations leads a spare and lonely life inside the drafty old building at Szabadsag Ter 12 in Budapest. Legation officials admit few visitors, and the guest list for the Mass that he celebrates on Sundays is forwarded to Washington for clearance. By all accounts, the cardinal remains chipper, although one U.S. visitor who heard him preach recently says that his mind tends to wander. At night, only he and an American duty officer occupy the legation. Outside, three black sedans of the Hungarian secret police are on around-the-clock alert; one always has its motor running, in case the cardinal should try to escape.

Mindszenty is unquestionably a brave man, and his stand against Communism has been a gallant one; yet the cardinal now appears to be a tragic, even pathetic figure, bypassed by history. In Communist eyes, he has long ceased to be a threatening martyr. Most of the other Hungarian bishops have decided to live with the regime of Janos Kadar; Budapest’s man in the street tempers sympathy for the cardinal’s plight with recollections of Mindszenty’s monarchist sympathies. And if he is an inspiring figure to millions of Catholics around the world, Mindszenty is nonetheless an obstacle to Pope John’s intention of easing the lot of Catholics behind the Iron Curtain. “The church could do so many more things in Hungary if he were not there.” says one ranking Vatican diplomat. “There are four sees now which do not have bishops. If the cardinal were out, I think we could fill those vacancies.”

Answering Yes. Mindszenty’s release will probably come as still another shock to conservative Italian Catholics, who are disturbed about the effect of the Pope’s recent talk with Khrushchev’s son-in-law Aleksei Adzhubei on the Italian elections this month. U.S. Catholics have already been assured by Augustin Cardinal Bea (TIME. April 5), chief of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, that the motive behind the new Vatican policy is religious, not political.

To Pope John, the church in the changing political arena of 1963 must do what Christ asked of his Apostles: “Love your enemies.” “They say I am too far left,” John told a gathering of villagers at San Basilio near Rome last week. “But I have to be a father to all. They say I am too much of an optimist, who sees only the good. But I cannot be any different than our Lord, who did not do anything more than spread good, who instead of saying no, always insisted on yes.” Cardinal Mindszenty’s last role in the Catholic Church is apparently to sacrifice his proud right to answer no.