"We British Catholics, following the teaching of Pius )(4 in his encyclicals, reject Communism and Nazism and any brand of pagan totalitarianism, and are united against ' the rulers of the world of this darkness': we take the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, to defend the principles of truth, of justice and of charity by whomsoever assailed."
With these werds Cardinal Hinsley, broadcasting last week to friends and fellowCatholics in Latin America," summed up the position of British Catholics.
The Cardinal, explaining why " we Catholics of Britain support our rulers in their resistance to Nazism," answered objections against the Communist Alliance.
SOME MAY OBJECT " Sonic may obfec:t," he said, " that now we are allied to Communism—as deadly a system as Nazism. The leopard does not change his sooty, and Nazism has not altered its character by attacking
the Russian people. We stand beside Poland, so cruelly martyred ' by her two neighbours, in spite of their words of friendship so recently pledged to her. Both have done treacherous wrongs to Poland. But the Russian people have still their
rights, which have been outraged by Nazi aggression. The defence of Russia's rights means the effort to repair the wrongs done to Poland."
Describing the " Darkness over the earth," Cardinal Hinsley said that racialism and pagan totalitarianism. proud of mechanised strength, had combined to set up a distorted god and a would-be superman as the universal law-giver. " The Nordic blood of the Herrenvolk is proclaimed supreme: smaller folk must how down and submit to the dictates of the leader of the master-race, for he is proclaimed to be the embodiment of all might and right. Such in final analysis is the significance of the Nazi creed and of the Nazi conduct. Their official pronouncements and their official deeds show forth the character of this pagan and anti-Christian system. We need only refer in proof to the encyclical of Pius XI Mit Brennender Sorge and to the records we possess of the Nazi treatment of religion both within the Reich and wherever the Nazis dominate.
" One by one the smaller nations—Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg—have 'been invaded and subjected to the overlordship of Nazi Germany. Poland has been made to suffer most cruelly of all under a systematic martyrdom: her life, 'her culture, her religion are deliberately marked down for brutal extermination."