PRIMATE ON LEOPOLD'S ABDICATION

From a. Special Correspondent CARDINAL Van Roey, Primate of Belgium, reproved the " absolutely condemnable" pro ceedings which brought to an end
the reign of King Leopold III, and appealed to the faithful now to "rally round the throne" of King Baudouin HI, in a pastoral letter read in the churches on Sunday.
"The abdication of King Leopold III," said the letter, "was obtained by an unbridled campaign of calumny and abuse, a disregard of truth, justice and charity, and, what is extremely grave, by riots and violence in the streets."
It went pn: "So tong as King Leopold remained our constitutional king, the precepts of Divine law imposed upon us the obligation to recognise him as our legitimate sovereign and to render him the duty of respect and fidelity to which he was entitled.
"Those who perhaps were astonished at this attitude understand nothing of Catholic morals."
On Saturday. Belgium's "National Day," which came only a day or LWO after the accession of the young King. the Ti' Deunt was sung in the Collegiate Church, Brussels.
King Baudouin was welcomed in the porch by all the Belgian Bishops, with Cardinal van Roey at their head.
In London, too, a solemn Te Deum was sung at the Belgian church of Our Lady of Hal, Camden Town, on the same day.