The Cominform had stated with blunt finality: "There is no place for the [Roman] Catholic church in the Balkans." Hungary was not strictly Balkan, but it was in the Cominform orbit. Last week Hungary's Communist government won a victory over Hungary's Catholicism. In the midst of the fracas, trading punch for punch, was Josef Cardinal Mindszenty, a tough prelate in a tough spot.
Cardinal Mindszenty was 56, precise, ascetic. Guests at his dinners got such meager fare that they counted on picking up another meal afterward. His town house on Budapest's Var Hill still showed bomb scars, and he lived in...
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