Word: czech
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Shortly before Pope Pius XII published the decree, Czech Communists had taken another step in their assault on Prague's Archbishop Beran and his hierarchy. In a memorandum signed by Party Secretary Rudolf Slansky, plans were made to build up a government-controlled national church. Another circular detailed punishments for priests who had read Beran's pastoral letters denouncing Communist persecution of the church. "Finally," said the circular, "we shall accuse [the Catholic hierarchy] directly of high treason...
...excommunication order forced Czech Communists to hurl accusations of treason faster than they intended. Minister of Justice Alexej Cepicka blared that Beran had maintained "treacherous connections with foreign enemies" and plotted "treacherous anti-state riots." "Let no one doubt," the minister went on, "that today anyone who . . . tries in any way to carry out the Vatican's orders commits treason against the vital principles of his own state and people." Cepicka lists himself officially as a Catholic. He is a son-in-law of Communist Boss Klement Gottwald...
...Vatican called the Czech threat of prosecution for treason "laughable nonsense." A Vatican spokesman asserted: "Excommunication has no need of a material executor who can be traced and punished. Excommunication acts upon the guilty in the secret of the conscience." On the other hand, Eastern Catholics who were terrorized into lip service to Communism would not incur the penalties of the papal edict. Priests, he added, were expected to do their duty regardless of personal consequences...
...churches last Sunday Czech priests read a defiant resolution, proclaiming their loyalty to Archbishop Beran and Pius XII. "We are certain," the resolution declared, "that all conscientious and faithful Catholics agree with us and that they would so testify if they were given the opportunity of free speech...
Around a crude wooden table in an austere schoolroom sat nine men: an Englishman, a Dutchman, an Indian, a Norwegian, a Czech, two Germans, and two Americans. Their debate was on a major matter: What should the Protestant churches do about the Communist attack on religious freedom in Eastern Europe? (For the Vatican's stand on the same question, see INTERNATIONAL...