POPE DEEPLY GRIEVED; WILL MAKE STRONG PROTEST.

Chronicle (Levin), 9 February 1949, Page 5

POPE DEEPLY GRIEVED; WILL MAKE STRONG PROTEST.

Received Wednesday, 9.30 a.m. J LONDON, Feb. 8. 3 Vatican officials said this morn- i ing that the Pope was "deeply i

grieved" when he heard of the sentence imposed on Cardinal Minds- ! zenty and would take the first suit- ! able occasion to make a protest "in i the hardest and most definite ! terms." I The Pope had ordered his day's ■ audiences to be delayed for one hour because he wished to be alone in prayer. The officials said that the Pope. fhad refrained from making a protest. earlier because he did not wish to irritate the Budapest judges and make worse the grave situation which the Cardinal was facmg. Now he would feel no restraint. The predominating feeling in Vatican circles about the trial is one of perplexity. Vatican sources said that so many confiicting verI sions had been received in reports from Budapest on the statements made during the trial that they still did not know what the Cardinal actualiy denied or admitted. They said° the prevalent opmion was that it was obviously impossible to know whether the Cardinal had or had not been drugged, but that at least he rnust oe regarded as having acted as a man who was not free. They also thought that the statement the Cardinal had made before his arrest — that any confession he might make after should be disregarded — should eontinue to be accepted as the basic factor in formuiating an opinion.