Roman Catholics: Hungarian Dance

Since the Communist takeover of Eastern Europe after World War II, the Vatican has sought — largely in vain — to anchor the rights of Roman Catholics in Iron Curtain countries through protocol and concordat. Only lately has the realization seeped in that written agreements with Communist countries are the start, not the finish, of diplomacy — and that painful compromises are part of a tough bargain. Four years ago, the Holy See announced an elaborate formal agreement with Hungary that was supposed to mark the beginning of toleration for the country's...