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Prayers for Russia. Soon His Eminence began to speak more bluntly than ever. He made no secret of his loathing of Naziism ("pagan clique of upstart tyrants"), and of his position on the war ("You are on the side of the angels . . . Christian knights of the British cause"). Regardless of the many Irish in his see, he denounced the Irish Republican bombings in England ("cowardly and atrocious outrages"), and said that those who were guilty should be excommunicated. No more a friend of Communism than any Roman Catholic prelate, he nonetheless paid public tribute to Russia's defenders and declared: "For Russia we plead daily in our prayers. . . "
The benign Cardinal was Westminster's first Archbishop to mingle freely and sympathetically with Anglicans, Free Churchmen and Jews. He signed pronouncements with other religious leaders, spoke at inter-faith gatherings, nurtured into rapid growth the Sword of the Spirit movement —open to all Christians—to promote economic and social justice along democratic and Christian lines.
As Hinsley lay dying in Hertfordshire, the Church of England's Assembly did the unprecedented by praying for his recovery. When Hinsley died the Archbishop of Canterbury expressed the nation's feelings when he mourned "a most devoted citizen of his country ... a most kindly and warmhearted friend."
*Among them: Architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (Liverpool's unfinished Anglican Cathedral); Rear Admiral Sir Henry Harwood, hero of the battle of the River Plate (TIME, Dec. 25, 1939); Authors Hilaire Belloc, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Sheila Kaye-Smith, A. J. Cronin.