Holy Father praises heroism of laity under persecution

BIG RALLY FOR POLISH CARDINAL
AGREAT Catholic rally to protest against the arrest of Cardinal Wyszynski and the persecution of the Church in Poland—similar to the meeting held after the arrest of Cardinal Mindszenty—is to be held at the Albert Hall, London.
An announcement from Archbishop's House, Westminster, says that the protest will be made on Thursday evening, December 3. Full details will be available next week. Till then no application for tickets should be made.
The announcement comes as the Catholics of England and Wales, at the direction of the Hierarchy, prepare to observe Sunday, Feast of Christ the King, as a day of prayer for the persecuted Church and ie reparation for the sacrilegious attacks on religion by Communist governments.
The Papal Secretariate of State has issued an official list of 133 Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops who are imprisoned, have been expelled from their dioceses or
peded" from carrying out their duties.
Not included
This figure, of course, does not include the priests and religious victims of the Red persecution Their number is known to run into thousands.
Nor does the list include Bishops sentenced to death or who have died in prison camps.
Forty Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops are known to be in prison, 42 are "impeded" in other ways and 38 have been expelled. Five are in exile, four are detained in unknown localities. three have been deported and one is "confined."
Pictures of some of these heroes of the Faith appear on page 5 with a report which tells the story behirul the persecution of the Church in many parts of the world.
High tribute to all the heroes— Cardinals, Archbishops. Bishop s, priests, religious and laity—was paid by the Holy Father in his Mission Sunday message last Sunday.
His Holiness singled out on this occasion "our most dear son" Cardinal Wyszynski, and said: "We take this opportunity to assure him once more of our paternal affection and to voice our own most sorrowful and most firm protest against this violation of the sacred rights of the Catholic Church."
From every corner
The Holy Father said that "innumerable testimonies of the emotion and indignation of the Catholic world" have come to him from every corner of the earth.
"NO longer." His Holiness declared, "are there any regions today sheltered from the disguised or open propaganda of at heistic Communism.
"There are no young nations where new aspirations and sometimes impatient pretensions are not being awakened, creating imperative duties for the pastors who are responsible and solicitous for the true good of their peoples.
"There is no longer any country which can escape the repercussions of international life and economic rivalries, with all their cultural and social consequences, "We keep before our eyes, and we preserve in the golden book of the Continued on page 7