Vienna from Budapest on Tuesday and said Cardinal Mindszenty still refused to leave the American Embassy there, where he took refuge after the Hungarian uprising of 1956.
During talks in Budapest the two cardinals are understood to have discussed the recentlyimproved relations between the Vatican and the Hungarian Government following the agreement to allow Vatican appointments of bishops in the country.
Vatican sources said Cardinal Koenig asked Cardinal Mindszenty if he did not feel that the agreement had established "sufficient guarantees" for the life of the Catholic Church in Hungary to permit him to leave. • One of Cardinal Mindszenty's conditions for leaving has always been that freedom must first be restored to the Church in Hungary. The Vatican sources added: "There is not full freedom, but the new agreement certainly improves the situation."
Cardinal Mindszenty, who is 77, still faces charges of treason and illegal currency dealings. for which he was given a life sentence in 1949. He was freed during the uprising of 1956, but when this was put down he took refuge in the U.S. Embassy.
He has frequently threatened to leave the building and "go out among the people"— a prospect which fills with dismay not only the Americans and the Vatican, but also the Hungarian authorities who would have no choice but to rearrest him.