Church and Communism

Report Outline
Conflict Between Communism and Religion
Soviet Government and the Russian Church
Soviet Satellites and the Catholic Church

Conflict Between Communism and Religion

Sharpening of Religious-Red Controversy in Europe

Conflict between church and state in Eastern Europe, brought periodically to world attention since Communist governments came to power in that region, was dramatized early this year by the trial and conviction on treason charges of Cardinal Mindszenty in Hungary and of 15 Protestant ministers in Bulgaria. In mid-May the scene shifted to Czechoslovakia, where a sharp controversy rapidly developed between the government and the Roman Catholic Church. Archbishop Beran in Prague escaped the fate of Mindszenty, at least for the time being, but his voice was silenced. Although the open conflict subsided, it still smolders and may break out again at any time. Or the scene may shift once more, perhaps to Poland.

Meanwhile, the Vatican, by striking back on July 13 with a general excommunication decree directed against all Roman Catholic Communists and Communist supporters, brought the church's struggle with Communism onto a wider stage. For the Vatican's action was calculated to have possibly far-reaching political effects, if not in Eastern European countries firmly under Communist sway, in such Western European countries as France and Italy where the people are predominantly Catholic and the Communist Party has enjoyed extensive popular support.

Satellite Repetition of Soviet Church-State Clash

The conflict today between the Roman Catholic Church and the Communist governments of the satellite states parallels, up to a point, the conflict between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Soviet government in the first years of the Bolshevik regime. In Russia after 1917, as in the satellites now, the Communists took drastic steps to wipe out ecclesiastical privileges and power, subordinate the church to the state, and separate the schools from the church. The Russian Orthodox Church, like the Roman Catholic Church, resorted to the weapon of excommunication. Then as now there were arrests and confessions of church dignitaries, and the state fostered schisms within the church. The only substantial difference in the pattern is that the satellites so far have shown somewhat greater restraint on confiscation of church property. And whereas the antagonist of the Communists a generation ago was a national church, today it is an international church whose strength drawn from many countries may make it a more formidable foe.