Catholicism and the Hungarian Revolt

Title

Creator

Cuenco, Miguel

Language

English

Year

1957

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

THERE IS a basic cause for the present Russian hegemony in Cen tral Europe, particularly Hungary, and the uprising in that country against Soviet rule. Following the thesis ol the Italian Count Camillo Cavour, who considered the exist ence of the Austro-Hungarian Em pire as a danger to Italian unity and national independence and for that reason advocated the dissolu tion of that Empire, the Allied leaders in the First World War, Wilson, Clemenceau, Lloyd George, CATHOLICISM and the Hungarian Revolt By Hon. MIGUEL CUENCO ('.hairman, House Commitlee. on Foreign Affairs and Orlando, decided the dismem berment ol the Empire of the Hapsburgs. Cavour is considered as a ranking statesman and diplomat of the last century, second only to the German Iron Chancellor, Count Otto Bismarck. British and American diplomats now consider this settle ment as a fatal error. With the partition of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a great counterpoise to German and Russian Powers was removed. Thus, in 1938, the inde pendent state of Austria was forcibly absorbed into the German Reich. Two years ago, the Allied military occupation of Austria by the four Allied Powers in the last World War, including the Russian occupation, was put to an end. After the last World War, Hun gary, the other partner in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, became a Soviet satellite state. It is now about two weeks that a revolution in Hun gary against Russia has been taking place. Hungary has an area of about 35,000 square miles, with a population of more than 9 million. Austria has more than 83,000 square kilometers and its population is 7 million. Had the union of both countries been allowed to continue by the Allied countries in the First World War, a united Austria-Hun gary could have better resisted Rus sian domination. Paraphrasing Simoun in his confession to a Catholic priest, Padre Florentino, in Dr. Jose Rizal's Filibusterismo wherein Simoun expressed anxiety over the redemption of our country, the Phil ippines, one is led to ask this ques tion concerning Hungary: Does this mean that the heroic fight of the Hungarians for freedom is hopeless? Our answer is NO. About 70% of the Hungarians are Catholics. They are fighting (Contiiitied on pa ye Page 2 THE CAROLINIAN (Continued from page 2) the Russians with Religion, the deadliest of all weapons. If my memory serves me right, the pres ent Pope, His Holiness Pius XII, then Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, was the representative of the Holy Father to the International Eucha ristic Congress held in Budapest before the last war. In his speech before the Congress, the then Cardinal Pacelli discoursed on the indestructibility of the Catholic Church, which is a divine institu tion, and made reference to Julian, the Apostate, and other oppressors of the Church, who had long gone and whose memory mankind has cast into oblivion. The present Pope spoke with prophetic vision. After the last War, the Soviet-dominated government of Hungary dissolved 59 Catholic religious corporations or orders with more than 10,000 monks and nuns and their monasteries were taken over by the State. Car dinal Josef Mindszenty, Primate of the Catholic Church, was sen tenced, on false charges of espion age and treason, to life imprison ment. Many obstacles were placed to the opening of Catholic schools. But Catholicism, as usual, survived the ruthless persecution. Nor has the soul of the Hungarian nation perished. Youth Social Action: The Answer to Age-old Distrust (Continued from page 3) Through these institutions, headed by fully-trained lay apostles, the spirit of Christ can penetrate in all phases of modern life — in the shop, the school, the home, the farm, in our recreational centers and in our government. It is a social force that seeks to bring the masses back to Christ, or rather, to bring Christ back to the masses. Selfish poli tical interests, in the humanitarian garb of social service have not really succeeded in ameliorating the conditions of the common tao. Material aid have not made them less dependent, and they are as poor as ever. For theirs is no mere economic problem. There are hu man and spiritual factors involved which the poor man alone under stands. So far we have been dealing with the urgent problems of the present social order. Equally im portant, if not more, are the prob lems that will inevitably come up in the future. Our present form of socio-economic civilization will cer tainly subside and a new form will Catholicism and the Hungarian Revolt Religion is more important than armies, military alliances, military bases in the survival of nations. We, Catholics, believe in the divi nity of Jesus Christ, in the Sacred Eucharist, and in the immortality of the soul. Life does not end in death and there is an eternal life beyond the grave. Sustained by faith, the Hungarian people are not afraid to fight their Russian op pressors. In the beautiful phrase of St. Francis Assisi, we die to be born into eternity to receive the reward of perpetual blessed happi ness to which we are entitled if we have lived in this world obeying God's commandments. Speaking through Padre Florentino, Dr. Rizal commented on the influence of Re ligion in the fight for freedom of our country as follows: "Yo no quiero decir que nuestra libertad se conquiste a filo de espada: la espada entra por muy poco ya en los destinos modernos, pero, si, la hemos de conquistar mereci6ndola, elevando la razon y la dignidad del individuo, amando lo justo, lo bueno, lo grande hasta morir por el, y cuando un pueblo llega a esa altura, Dios suministra el arma, y caen los idolos, caen los tirareplace it. Here, a new question arises: What form will take its place? Let us turn to our youth for the answer. They are the future. Now is the time to build a more dynamic apostolate and a better world for tomorrow. The raw material is available in our young people. But it must be guided, formed and trained, and this task can only be done by young, energetic priests who can understand them and who can meet them on their level in bringing about a profound trans formation in the environment. An objection, however, readily confronts us here. This task of training our youth for the apos tolate calls for a large expenditure ol time and effort on the part of our priests. Already we have a short age of priests who can hardly cope with the work of their ministry. But is this responsibility of training our youth not expounded by Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII in the ency clicals? And just think of what it would mean if in every parish there is a group of strong and dynamic apostles! Just think of its farnos como castillo de naipes, y brilla la libertad con la primera aurora." (El Filibusterismo, p. 291) Rizal's words are as pertinently applicable to Hungary. Russian tanks and jet planes and hundreds of thousands of soldiers are re ported to have defeated the Hun garian rebels, but sooner or later Russia has to recognize and res pect Hungarian independence. She will be forced to do so by the pressure of international public opinion, which Soviet brutalities has outraged. She cannot do it now because Russia may have to cross Hungarian territory and that of neighboring Yugoslavia to send her army to the Mediterranean in case a world war breaks out in the Middle East. At any rate, even without arms, the Hungarians can not be subdued if it is their un yielding determination to be free. By not doing business with the Russians, by not cooperating with them, the Hungarians will compel the Russians to quit. There is al ready a growing conviction in the Soviet Government that the puppet government that replaced Nagy's nationalist government is useless and has not accomplished anything to pacify Hungary. reaching effects; the apostolate of like-upon-like not only increases the priest's apostolic influence but also adds new domains to it and streng thens the link that binds the com munity to the priesthood. The discouragement of our elders and of the priests of the older gen eration upon our young people is one of the most tragic setbacks of our apostolate. This is a disease that could even paralyze the spirit of our youth for life. "Kids and young people in general are im prudent and irresponsible. Catholic action is at the same time a risk and an impossibility. We must stop them before they get into mischief, and let us instead try to get them to frequent the sacraments and avoid serious sin." Such is an at titude of fatality and a counsel of despair which must be followed if we are to expect communism to sprout under our noses. Why are we always afraid to make a mis take? Can we not hope to make good? Condemned for imprudence before they even had the chance (Continued on page A5) Page 4 THE CAROLINIAN

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