As long as the child is little, let the mother be little with him. As he grows, may she stay young with his youth. When he has passed into adulthood, let her learn the most difficult art of all, let her remain his friend.

Cardinal Mindszenty (1892-1975)
Cardinal Primate of Hungary

“Cardinal Mindszenty is now part of history forever. Whatever might be his future destiny, he will remain forever one of the purest glories of Hungary. With a clear view of the course of events, and an indomitable determination, he fought for the rights of the Church and for the freedom of his country. He was well aware of the fate that awaited him because of his choices: he knew they would lead to prison, and worse; and despite this knowledge he never hesitated. Well aware of the dehumanizing methods of his enemies and knowing they would be used against him, he warned the faithful of his diocese that it was the free Cardinal, not the imprisoned one, to whom they should listen. For the Church, and for his country, “if, in contradiction to everything, I were to make a confession and put my signature upon it,” he declared, “it would mean nothing more than a manifestation of human weakness. The worth of any avowal of this kind, I declare null and void in advance.” He stood up tall, and his words demolished the so-called confessions, so carefully and cunningly prepared, in advance. No Catholic was fooled by the self-serving lies told about him, and the judges themselves could not ignore the fact that they were condemning an innocent man. He towered above them, and from what heights! Standing, and free, he barred the way against tyranny and apostasy. Implicit in materialism is contempt for mankind, while respect for each man depends on belief in God and in the immortality of the soul. Atheistic materialism, through its gratuitous denial of these realities, can only produce a failed superman, a man desperate and morbid in a barbarous way. It is only God who can save humanity. Arrested by the Nazis on November 27, 1944, the grand prelate regained his freedom in the spring of 1945 thanks to the German capitulation. He could have remained silent during the Nazi regime, he could have remained silent during the Soviet regime: instead, he chose to do battle, out of a sense of duty, and out of his fidelity to the Church and to the Hungarian people. Vae mihi si non evanglizavero – woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.”

Cardinal Saliège (1870-1956)
Archbishop of Toulouse