QUOTATION: God is the Source of Authority

There are many who believe that human beings, and in particular the government, have the right to violate divine laws whenever it seems expedient to do so. This kind of thinking caused innocent people to be interned in concentration camps, robbed of all their possessions, exiled, or murdered outright. Those who issued and carried out such orders, or merely approved of them, all forgot one thing: whenever a conflict arises between human and divine law, we must obey God rather than men. Those who govern this land chose to place themselves above the laws of God. They fail to realize that in doing so, they were undermining the foundations of their own authority.

--Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, Pastoral Letter, May 1945, cited in Memoirs, 1974

QUOTATION: Communism

A bishop can attach himself to communism only at the expense of his own cause.

--Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty

QUOTATION: Communism

In every social class there are compassionate people who take the side of the poor and the suffering and who desire a just social order. Such people often become unwittingly the henchmen of the Communists. Their cooperation yields propagandistic gains for the Marxist movement. Often such sympathizer are won over by Communism's empty promises of equality,  the elimination of all earthly misery, the welfare state, and a happy, classless society in a free world. But the Communist ideology can achieve lasting effects only where the religious foundations of a nation have been undermined so that reason, faith in God, and morality do not offer sufficient resistence to such ideas.

--Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, Memoirs, 1974

QUOTATION: Excessive Self-Criticism by Catholics

The excesses of modern "self-criticism" often serve only the interests of our bitter enemies.

--Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, Memoirs, 1974

QUOTATION: The Church in an Atheist State

In an atheistic state a church that is not independent can only play the part of a slave.

--Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, Memoirs, 1974

QUOTATION: Religious Freedom

When people lose their religious freedom, they invariably lose all their other rights as well. The first three centuries of the Christian era, the French Revolution, and the Hitler Regime all teach us one lesson: those who restrict religious liberty will soon deprive citizens of all their other human rights.

--Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, Address of November 7, 1946 cited in Memoirs, 1974

QUOTATION: Religious Persecution

Religious persecution has two faces, just like Janus. One of its faces may shine brightly and promise us liberty; but its other face glares at us with the grim gaze of a tyrant.

--Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, Address of November 7, 1946 cited in Memoirs, 1974

QUOTATION: Compartmentalizing Religion

People who separate religion from the rest of life are trying to get rid of religion altogether; for they do not want it to interfere with the way they live.

--Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, Address of October 20, 1946 cited in Memoirs, 1974

QUOTATION: Catholic Schools

Like our churches, our schools must always minister to the souls of the faithful. If they do not, they fall into decay and become the workshops of evil. History shows us that when schools grow away from the Church, they grow closer to the prisons.

--Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, A Sermon in Szentgotthard, cited in Memoirs, 1974

QUOTATION: The Privatization of Religion

Societies which regard religion as a personal matter unrelated to the conduct of public life, will soon be swallowed up in corruption, violence, and sin.

--Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, Address of October 20, 1946 cited in Memoirs, 1974