Attack on rights of a whole nation

THE banishment of Cardinal Wyszynski has violated the rights not only of one individual man but those of a whole people, said the Holy Father in his reply to the diplomats' protest.
His Holiness comforted the victims—and implicitly warned their persecutors—by declaring :
No mere words
"The gravity of today's evils should rob no one of conlidence in a better future.
Truth and justice arc not mere words. They possess the very strength of God, their Guarantor and Defender. Who even now instills into the hearts of His children the certitude of the final triumph of peace in mutual respect of peoples and the generous accord of men of good will.
"May Almighty God grant that you and your countries may see the dawn of that day, for which all yearn and for which many today do not hesitate to offer their sufferings and their life."
Since this was.a protest on behalf of the rights of his own country and people, the Ambassador of the Polish Government in Exile, M. Papec, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, stood aside in favour of the next in seniority, the Irish Ambassador. Mr. . P. Walshe, as the spokesman of the envoys.
The Pope was attended at the throne by the prelates of his household and the chief members of the Papal Secutariate of State. headed by the two Pro-Secretaries, Mgr. Montini and Mgr. Tardini.
Solemn witness
Mr. Walshc said
"The members of the Diplomatic Corps have requested the privilege of this audience in order to be able to give solemn witness in the presence of Your Holiness that they share your sorrow at the persecution raging at this moment with a violence that recalls the early centuries of Christianity.
"We wish at the same time to give witness of our ssmpathy with all the victims of this persecution, and especially with His Eminence Cardinal NiNS■ ss n ski and the other prelates of whose cruel fate we learn almost day by day.
"We would also wish to take this opportunity to express to Your Holiness all the horror and detestation that we feel at these offences against the rights of man and especially against his right to express his faith in God and practise it according to the Divine law impressed on the soul and the conscience of every man." The Holy Father, in his reply. said: "The tribulations inflicted on the most worthy Cardinal Wyszynski open a new wound in our heart, that of seeing added, after so many others, a new stage along the painful path which for several years the valiant Polish nation has been treading.
"In the course of a history rich in great events and containing numerous pages radiant with the purest heroism, this nation has very often had occasion to prove with what fervour it is attached to the Faith which it received almost 1,000 years ago . . .
Resistance
"To their love of country the Polish people have always linked unfailing fidelity to the person of the Roman Pontiff and find in it the strength to help it courageously to defend its existence. . • .
"It is not surprising that he who had assumed the task of maintaining the most intangible values of his people should become the principal victim of those who hope, in striking the head, to strike a mortal blow that will put an end to a tenacious resistance. . . .
"The nations you represent arc anxious to safeguard those inalienable rights which alone make possible a social life worthy of the name.
"Their nrforal support will not fail, we are certain, to sustain and encourage those who are courageously enduring such grave attempts against their religious and political freedom and who will find in their aid new and powerful motives for hope."