(A fitting time in this Pentecost to recall with contributor Joseph Donnelly the all-too-forgotten József Cardinal Mindszenty, the 50th anniversary of whose death in 1975 was on May 6th, this year the day before the conclave which elected Pope Leo XIV. Also, the 110th anniversary of Mindszenty’s ordination is coming up on June 12th, 1915 ,which happened also to be the feast of the Sacred Heart. Here, Mr. Donnelly recounts the relationship between the good and long-suffering Cardinal, and the good and long-suffering Pius XII. May they both find their reward in heaven).
A previous version of this article was completed shortly before the passing of Pope Francis on April 21st. As Catholic journals and news outlets were covering the interregnum, the conclave, and the newly elected Pope Leo XIV, the publication of these words and the accompanying speech was postponed. Now that a month has passed since the papal election, it seems acceptable to return to more “ordinary” Catholic material. As providence would have it, however, this little-known story of two venerable Servants of God, József Cardinal Mindszenty and Pope Pius XII, is made far more relevant by Leo XIV. Before that is explained, it is necessary to first introduce the little-known Mindszenty and his relationship to the incessantly maligned Pius XII, widely acclaimed as the Pastor Angelicus throughout his pontificate which spanned from 1939 to 1958.
May 6th marked fifty years since Mindszenty’s death in 1975. This significant anniversary was the original inspiration for this article. One-hundred and ten years ago on June 12, 1915, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mindszenty was ordained a priest. Following his appointments as archbishop of of Esztergom, prince primate of Hungary, and cardinal, he became one of the most preeminent figures (if not the most) in the conflict between the Catholic Church and communist regimes. His arrest, torture, and imprisonment in the late 1940s and early 1950s were denounced across the non-Communist world by Churchmen and statesmen alike. The American “Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation” was formed as early as 1958 and a prayer for beatification was approved by the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri, only two years after Mindszenty’s death. During what he called his “complete and total exile” following his departure from Hungary in 1971 (at the instigation of both the Vatican and the communist Hungarian government), Mindszenty ministered to Hungarian Catholics and emigres in various nations, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Africa.
That Mindszenty seemed to fade from memory, at least in the English-speaking world, cannot be denied. Indeed, the very decree of his “heroic virtue” (granting him the title of “Venerable”) in February 2019 was, perhaps, dwarfed by the approval of a miracle for the canonization of another great cardinal, St. John Henry Newman. Nevertheless, Mindszenty has by no means been forgotten altogether, nor was the announcement of his status as a venerable completely unnoticed. Dr. Daniel J. Mahoney, emeritus professor of political science at Assumption University in Massachusetts, penned an article hailing the news shortly after it broke. Moreover, thanks to Mahoney and renowned author Joseph Pearce, the outrageously overdue republication of Mindszenty’s Memoirs in English was accomplished by Ignatius Press in 2023. The English translation had been out-of-print for decades. At a lengthy, informative presentation about Mindszenty at the Victims of Communism Museum in Washington DC, Mahoney said of the republishing: “This is not just a pro-forma act to honor a heroic man. This memoir, very honestly written, is the testimony of a great soul, a great man of faith and fidelity, and one of the anti-totalitarian titans of the twentieth century.”
This new edition of Memoirs contains reviews from notable Catholics in the English-speaking world, among whom is another persecuted and reviled prince of the Church, the late Australian George Cardinal Pell, who wrote his own three volume Prison Journal (also published by Ignatius Press). Pell died in January 2023 shortly before Memoirs was republished. His words appear, perhaps, as a parting, personal message: “The memoirs of Cardinal Mindszenty are enthralling, evidence of a terrible time, to be set with Solzhenitsyn’s tales of the Gulag. The Cardinal was a hero for me as a teenager. He still is.” George Weigel, who composed the introduction and afterword to Pell’s Prison Journal, similarly wrote, “Cardinal József Mindszenty’s memoirs are among the great Catholic testimonies of the twentieth century, as the great Hungarian martyr-confessor was one of the century’s great Catholic witnesses.”
Yet another review is by German historian Dr. Michael Hesseman, largely unknown by English-speaking Catholics, though many may be familiar with My Brother, the Pope, which he co-authored with the late Monsignor Georg Ratzinger. Regarding Memoirs, Hesseman writes: “A precious and deeply moving testimony of a true Catholic hero and martyr bishop, Hungary’s greatest primate, Cardinal Mindszenty. He was a shining example of a shepherd who did not flee from the wolves but resisted, standing firmly on the ground of his faith and embracing the cross. A must-read!” In 2022, Ignatius Press published The Pope and the Holocaust: Pius XII and the Vatican Secret Archives, the fruit of extended research by Hesseman. It is, indeed, most fitting that a seasoned expert on Pope Pius XII, proclaimed a venerable by Benedict XVI in 2009, should give such praise to Mindszenty and his Memoirs. The select instances where Mindszenty mentions Pius reveal immense love, admiration, and gratitude. The appointments of Mindszenty as archbishop, primate, and cardinal, as well as his arrest, trial, imprisonment, and dramatic release during the 1956 Hungarian Uprising all involve Pius XII.
The relationship between Pius and Mindszenty cannot be reduced to mere historical overlap; their connection seems to have a, perhaps, spiritual character. As such, it could be said that the story of Mindszenty is incomplete without mention of Pius XII. His esteem for and defense of Mindszenty is beautifully described in a speech by the vice postulator for Pius XII’s canonization, Emilio Artiglieri, an attorney of the Roman Rota and the president of the Comitato Papa Pacelli – Associazione Pio XII. Previously available only in Italian, the speech has been recently translated into English. Making extensive use of Mindszenty’s memoirs and Pius XII’s own words (some of which are unavailable English), Artiglieri sketches an excellent summary of the bond between these two shepherds. Only the constraints of time made it impossible for him to mention all that could be said. Artiglieri spoke at an event commemorating Mindsznety in Genoa, Italy, in 2017. Although his speech dates eight years ago, the story narrated by Artiglieri remains timeless. As mentioned near the beginning of this piece, the fiftieth anniversary of Mindszenty’s death was May 6th. Moreover, English speakers may now proceed from the speech to the memoirs themselves thanks to Mahoney, Pearce, and Ignatius Press. Finally, Artiglieri does not simply compile readily available information; he weaves a unified account with unique sources.
On this note, there are aspects of this speech that deserve special attention. The first regards yet another highly respected cardinal, Giuseppe Siri, the famous archbishop of Genoa. Artiglieri is himself a native of Genoa and very familiar with Cardinal Siri. Moreover, we know from various sources (Benny Lai, Mother Pascalina Lehnert, etc.) that Pius XII and Siri not only held each other in the highest esteem; the Roman pope truly desired the Genovese cardinal to be entrusted with the keys of St. Peter. As such, the warm encounter between Mindszenty and Siri in Rome in 1971, revealing the deep admiration the latter had for the former, coupled with Mindszenty’s Mass of Thanksgiving at Pius XII’s tomb, could be called the greatest approximation to Pius XII welcoming Mindszenty back to Rome, almost twelve years after the pope’s death.
Another matter is that of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, (Padre Pio). None other than the vice postulator for Mindszenty’s canonization, Gergely Kovács, as well as the “renowned Vaticanist” Andrea Tornielli have affirmed the story that Padre Pio bilocated to Mindszenty’s prison cell, bringing him bread and wine for mass. Moreover, Padre Pio is yet another connection to Pius XII. It is well documented that Padre Pio beheld a vision of Pius XII in heaven following the latter’s death in 1958. Siri himself esteemed Padre Pio immensely.
The event at which Artiglieri spoke was graced by the presence of the popular Archduke Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen, ambassador of Hungary to the Holy See and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. His father, Archduke Michael, is the president of the Mindszenty Foundation in Hungary. In a 2020 interview with National Catholic Register, Archduke Michael made a remarkable revelation when asked about Pius XII in relation to the actions of Mindszenty:
By the way, I’m Michael Pius, because Pius XII is my godfather. Well, he couldn’t come to the christening because he was pope by 1942, but Eugenio Pacelli [future Pope Pius XII] came to Budapest in 1938 for the World Eucharistic Congress and made friends with my parents. When my mother was expecting her eighth child, that’s me, she wrote to the Pope. The Holy Father answered very kindly and sent Cardinal Angelo Rotta to represent the Pope at my christening, in the palace of my grandfather.
We should now explain why the story of Pius and Mindszenty is made especially relevant by the election of Robert Cardinal Prevost as Pope Leo XIV. The answer is somewhat multifaceted. In the first place, Papa Prevost has made various references to martyrs of the faith since the beginning of his pontificate. On the day following his election, he meditated upon St. Ignatius of Antioch during his homily from his first mass as pope, which he celebrated with the Sacred College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel:
Saint Ignatius, who was led in chains to this city [Rome], the place of his impending sacrifice, wrote to the Christians there: “Then I will truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world no longer sees my body” (Letter to the Romans, IV, 1). Ignatius was speaking about being devoured by wild beasts in the arena – and so it happened – but his words apply more generally to an indispensable commitment for all those in the Church who exercise a ministry of authority. It is to move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified (cf. Jn 3:30), to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love him.
As I mentioned in an article published shortly after Leo’s election, Roberto de Mattei made a thought-provoking observation regarding this statement:
These words sound almost like an omen. In his first appearance on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo XIV’s face was streaked with a few tears. These discreet tears can express the emotion of a man who in front of a cheering crowd reviews his entire past, from the Chicago parish to his unexpected landing at the top of the Church. But they can also manifest the affliction of one who glimpses the future of the Church and the world. [Emphasis added]
Leo XIV made reference, similar to that of St. Ignatius of Antioch, to a more recent figure in his Regina Caeli address on May 25th:
Yesterday in Poznań (Poland), Stanislaus Kostka Streich, a diocesan priest killed in hatred of the faith in 1938 because his work on behalf of the poor and workers irritated followers of the Communist ideology, was beatified. May his example inspire priests in particular to give themselves generously in the service of the Gospel and their brothers and sisters.
The words of Pope Leo and Professor de Mattei recall to mind Mother Pascalina Lehnert’s description of her interactions with Pius XII concerning Mindszenty:
“But how could Your Holiness know what you were saying to the Cardinal? Isn’t it terrible for him to hear such a prognosis from the Holy Father?” Pius XII replied that he had been startled himself when he heard himself say, “Among these thirty-two [cardinals] you will be the first to suffer the martyrdom symbolized by this red color.” When pictures later appeared in the newspapers of the terrible show trial dragging the tortured Cardinal and Archbishop of Esztergom before the eyes of the world, Pius XII said with tears in his eyes, “My words have come true and all I can do is pray; I cannot help him in any other way.”
However, the Holy Father did not remain silent!
On June 2nd, Leo XIV paid tribute to another cardinal persecuted under a communist regime: The Greek-Catholic Bishop of Romania, Blessed Iuliu Hossu. On June 13th, members of the Sacred College of Cardinals will gather in a consistory with the Pope to vote upon the canonizations of seven blesseds, among whom are two martyrs: Ignazio Choukrallah Maloyan, Armenian Catholic Archbishop of Mardin, and Peter To Rot, a father, husband, and catechist from what is now Papua New Guinea.
When Leo XIV first appeared before the world in papal choir dress, he wore the gold pectoral cross given to him by the General Curia of the Augustinians when he was made a cardinal in 2023. In addition to relics of Saints Augustine, Monica, and Thomas of Villanova, the cross contains relics of two Augustinian bishops: Venerable Giuseppe Bartolomeo Menochio and Blessed Anselmo Polanco. Menochio was Prefect of the Apostolic Sacristy and confessor to the Servant of God Pope Pius VII. Throughout Napoleon’s persecution of Pius VII, which included his kidnapping, Menochio remained ever loyal to the pope. According to Vatican News, he was “A central figure in the life of the Church in Rome… Menochio is remembered as a devoted bishop and the only one who refused to swear allegiance to Napoleon, choosing instead to dedicate his life fully to the service of the Roman people.”
Since the early days of his pontificate, Leo has been seen in his white soutane (cassock) wearing not his old episcopal cross predating his elevation to the cardinalate but a simple, yet elegant, silver one similar in style to his gold cross. Presented to him on May 8th, the very day he was elected, it was created in only two hours by the same artisan who assembled his other “reliquary cross”. In addition to St. Leo the Great, this new cross, like the other, contains relics of St. Augustine, St. Thomas of Villanova, and Blessed Anselmo Polanco, a martyr of the Spanish Civil War. According to Vatican News, Polanco once declared, “As long as even one of my flock remains, I will stay.” This is reminiscent of Mindszenty’s reluctance to leave Hungary (despite being confined to the American legation) as well as Pius XII’s disappointment when the cardinal-archbishop of Perking, China, left his homeland after Mao Zedong took control in 1949.
Cardinal Prevost likely heard the intervention of the Chinese Joseph Cardinal Zen (or else was told of it afterwards) during a pre-conclave general congregation on April 30th. Zen began by saying:
Our Dean, in his letter of invitation, reminded us that we elderly cardinals, who are not electors, are not obliged to attend these sessions. I am an old man of 93 years; recovering from a long, non-serious illness that cost me ten kilograms; arrested three years ago on suspicion of violating the national security law, though I was quickly granted bail. I believed it was my duty to come…
Before making my remarks, I ask your forgiveness if I cannot speak on certain matters and must maintain the utmost discretion in my conduct. Thank you for your understanding.[Emphasis added]
In any event, during his previously mentioned May 25th Regina Caeli address, Leo XIV made mention of the suffering Chinese Catholics:
[Y]esterday, on the liturgical Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians, we celebrated the Day of Prayer for the Church in China, established by Pope Benedict XVI. In churches and shrines throughout China and around the world, prayers were offered to God as a sign of concern and affection for Chinese Catholics and their communion with the universal Church. May the intercession of Mary Most Holy obtain for them, and for us, the grace to be strong and joyful witnesses of the Gospel, even in the midst of trials, so that we may always promote peace and harmony.
The second to last encyclical of Pius XII, published on June 29th, 1958, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, was addressed directly to the hierarchy, clergy, and faithful of China. Less than a month later on July 14th, Pius XII released his very last encyclical, regarding “Prayers for the Persecuted Church”:
If a Christian way of life flourishes again, as it did in the age of the Apostles and martyrs, then we can reasonably hope that the Blessed Virgin Mary–who longs with a mother’s heart that all her sons should live virtuously–will graciously heed our prayers and will soon grant, in response to our petitions, happier and more peaceful times for the Church of her Only Begotten Son and for the whole human society.
To my knowledge, Leo XIV has hardly mentioned Pius XII since his election. During his “surprise excursion” to Castel Gandolfo on May 29th, however, Leo paid tribute to the “courageous actions of Pope Pius XII, who in 1944 provided refuge to over 12,000 people following the bombing of the Castelli Romani region during World War II”. Also, one can see footage of Leo in front of Pius’ tomb on the Sunday after his election (though one should not read too much into this). While he may well have paused in front of many tombs in the crypt of St. Peter’s, the footage shows him before only a handful. Pius XII’s tomb is found at the very end of the crypt in the center of a curved hallway. It lies immediately in front of the Clementine Chapel containing the (incredibly likely) remains of St. Peter. Pius XII was granted this place of honour since he initiated the excavations which led to the discovery of St. Peter’s tomb.
It is hoped that this article provides sufficient introduction to the newly translated speech by Artiglieri as well as inspires readers to explore the lives of these two neglected, yet mighty, venerable shepherds: Pope Pius XII and József Cardinal Mindszenty. May they intercede for Leo XIV before the throne of God so he may be granted prudence and fortitude throughout a pontificate which, without doubt, is beset by countless challenges. May Leo himself be moved by Our Lady, Queen of all Saints, to foster their causes for canonizations so that, in due time, all Catholics may be permitted to honour these holy successors of the Apostles in the public liturgy and devotion of the Church.
