Moue to force Ch,ureh into schism 2'

HUNGARIAN REDS TIGHTEN HOLD•
AST week Archbishop Grosz of Kalocsa, the acting A
head of the Church in Hungary, is reported to have taken the oath of loyalty to the State required by a Government decree passed, apparently, in 1957 but only made public last month.
The decree represents a further tightening of the CornmUnist hold on the Church in Hungary. Already only two members of the Hierarchy— Archbishop GrOsz and Bishop Hamvas of Csanad—can be said to enjoy even a slight measure of independence, and the new regulations will make their position more impossible still.
THE OATH
Other Church dignitaries also reported last week to have taken the oath were Bishop Rogecs of Pdes, Bishop Kisberk, auxiliary of Szekesfeherver, Abbot Leganyi, 0.S.B„ of Pannonholme, and Fr. Bela Varadi. described as a Franciscan provincial.
Under the decree, all Church The te' th if appointments have to be approved by the Stele. In the case of bishops and dignitaries of similar rank, this has to be granted by the presidential council of the People's Republic, while for other clergy approval is given by the State office for Church affairs.
Moreover, if the Church authorities do not fill a vacant position within 60 days —90 days in the case of bishops—the competent State authorities are to take the necessary steps "in the interest of continuity of pastoral care, the administration of the Church, as well as of the education of priests".
All newly appointed clergy are further pledged by the decree to take the oath of loyalty to the Hungarian People's Republic in the tome laid down in 1950 within 60 days. Every Church official who has not taken the oath must take it within 60 days— the provision under which, presumably, Archbishop Grosz has been made to swear loyalty to a Communist State. provisions of this decree look as f they are designed to enable
Communist rulers of Hungary to set up a schismatic Church if they so wish. From their point of view, it would be quite legal to appoint loyal supporters of the regime to the five dioceses whose Ordinaries have been banished to tiny villages outside their sees (or in the case of Cardinal Mindszenty, confined to the American Legation in Budapest), even though these bishops remain, under Canon Law, the rightful rulers of their sees.
The decree also sanctions the practise beloved in Communist countries of removing zealous priests who are proving themselves too popular and apostolic from their parishes and roplacing them with "peace priests" or others sinularly loyal to the regime.